Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting
by Kudara
Summary: Alternate Universe story  splits from canon at episode Scorpion II. Exploration of a very different Seven of Nine.
1. Introduction

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Introduction**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture the inhabitants of the Pegasi 51 system, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: PG

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

AU – Astronomical Unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

Nietzschiests – German philosopher of the late 19th Century, he questioned the prevalent foundations of morality and values.

Revision History: 02/14/06

Summary: History and brief introduction of Pegasus system, culture, and beliefs.

* * *

Between the years of 2110 and 2150, due to advances in technology, medicine, and the memories of World War III almost a century before, disease, poverty, crime, and hunger were almost completely wiped out on Earth. A United Earth government was formed in 2113, with only Australia declining at the time; though they would join as well in 2150. Mankind was closer than ever before to creating what the majority of humans though was an ideal Earth, a utopia of human opportunity, as mankind stepped out onto the galactic stage.

But not everyone agreed, in 2123 a privately funded ship, the Mariposa, contained a group of Irish colonists seeking to colonize Bringlois V, a planet in the Ficus sector, and leaving behind Earth's high technology lifestyle. Upon Earth itself, the traditionalist movement was well underway and eventually resulted in the creation of several agricultural parks across the planet where people could live less technological lifestyles.

In 2127 four privately funded ships, the _Cumann-1 _thru_ Cumann-4_, DY-500 C class sleeper ships capable of warp 3.6, set out for Pegasi 51, a G5 star 50.1 light years from Earth. Unlike the settlers of Bringlois V, this group of 2,000 settlers did not eschew technology, they disagreed with the idea of creating a utopia where every human's needs were automatically provided for from birth to death, whether that person contributed to society or not.

They were not survivalists, though they did believe that a person should demonstrate that they could survive in harsh conditions. They were not Nietzschiests, because they thought the idea of 'will to power' the striving for domination over others, was the root of all types of social and personal evils from war to common criminal acts such as murder, and assault of all types. They did not deny that such an impulse existed in humanity, but they believed that any such tendency had to be mastered and sublimated for the good of society. In fact, one could say they were anti-Nietzsche, because they wanted to actively weed out of their society those that gave in to such anti-social impulses.

They called themselves Ice Age Humanists, for the time period in humanities development where they faced creatures such as the Saber-toothed Cat, Ice Age Mammoth and survived, and they believed in some very controversial ideas. The most controversial was the idea that people did not have the right to produce offspring without regard as to whether such an action was good for their society. That a person or couple should first consider whether or not they, and their immediate family or social group had the resources to provide and care for the child, and secondly that the proposed genetic pairing showed that they would produce a healthy child instead of an unhealthy one that would be a drain on society.

They believed that any individual should prove that they were capable of two things before being allowed to become a full member of society and produce offspring. One, that they were capable of surviving in the same conditions as primitive humans, and two, that they were capable of cooperating with others, that they understood that humanity could not have become Earth's dominant species if it were not for the fact that humans cooperated with one another. Those who thought they were above their fellows, that they deserved to rule over, dominate, manipulate for their own self gain, were to them as undesirable as the person too mentally or physically weak to survive a month with minimal equipment in the wilderness.

People called them genetic elitists, a term they begrudgingly agreed with, though they strongly disliked the comparison it inevitably brought up with the Chrysalis Project which had created the genetic supermen who had brought about the Eugenics Wars. They did desire to create a genetically elite group of people, a group whose individuals were not only mentally and physically tough, but who were also 'socially fit' for lack of a better term. Who showed that they were capable of balancing their own individual needs with those of society, and when necessary bowing to societies needs over their own for the good of their society.

In compensation for this loyalty to society, they believed that society owed the same loyalty to its individual members, that both should be passionately interested in the welfare, and wellbeing of the other. In this way a powerfully caring and unique society could be created, one in which the individual and society shared powerful bonds that tied them together in a partnership. In essence, they had their own ideas of what a utopia should be, and those ideas sharply contrasted with the ideas held by the majority of humans on Earth, who believed everyone, no matter what they gave back to society, deserved the same basic living standard.

The Ice Age Humanists chose Pegasi 51 for a reason, there were two planets in its solar system, in the habitable zone, one they planned to settle, the other they planned to use as their advanced testing ground. Pegasus was a large and dense planet, giving it a gravity of 1.2 G's compared to an Earth standard of 1 G. The planet rotated around its sun at 1.3 AU, slightly farther away than Earth from Sol, it had slightly less water coverage, 67, compared to Earth's 70, and its axial tilt was shallower than Earths, at 16.9 degrees compared to 23.2 degrees. The 16.9 degree axial tilt gave the planet a wide temperate zone, a narrow tropical zone, and relatively small polar caps.

These three facts, the increased distance from the sun, the shallower axial tilt, and the greater average land mass, all combined to make Pegasus's overall climate colder, and in the temperate zones, more extreme in its seasonal variations than Earth. In the planet's wide temperate zones, summer's were hotter and the winter's colder, spring's warmer and fall's cooler, compared to the same seasons on Earth, and due to the greater land mass, the temperature variation across the larger continents was highly variable from coast to interior.

In short, the higher gravity and more extreme conditions made the second planet from Pegasi 51 ideal in the Ice Age Humanists point of view, allowing them to prove themselves against its environment.

The second habitable planet was the third planet from Pegasi 51; they named this planet Crucible, for the process of refining and tempering they hoped it would achieve on their people. Crucible had a planetary axial tilt of 45 degrees; this extreme tilt resulted in the planet essentially having no temperate zone at all, only polar and tropical zones. The planet was smaller than Earth, had a gravity of 0.95 G, and its atmosphere was thinner than both Pegasus and Earth. The climate of the planet was a result of the combination of its tilt, atmosphere and 1.6 AU distance from Pegasi 51. The side of the planet facing the sun was hot, averaging 51 degrees Celsius; the side of the planet not facing the sun was correspondingly cold averaging -30 degrees Celsius. Only the hardiest and well prepared of people would be able to survive for any length of time on Crucible, and that was just what the Ice Age Humanists desired.

The journey from Earth to Pegasi 51 took the four ships thirteen months to complete, on February 5, 2129, Earth time, they entered orbit around the white shrouded, blue and brown planet Pegasus, their future home. The next day, the 11th day of the third lunar cycle of the Pegasus year they landed. Pegasus had three main land masses, along with two large continent sized islands, and various smaller islands. The colonists landed on the largest land mass, on a vast grassland plain surrounded by older mountains, where their scans showed there would be relatively little chance of volcanic activity or earthquakes. Ten Pegasus years later, or fifteen Earth years, as the Pegasus year was 540 days or 1.5 Earth years long, the colony was fully formed and thriving.

They named the single moon which orbited the planet, Bellerophon, after the ancient mythical rider of Pegasus. Bellerophon took 33.75 days to orbit the planet, which meant that the 540 day year had 16 lunar months. The settlers, a majority of whom were from Ireland and the British Isles, along with other families from Europe, Russia, and America, decided to celebrate the old Solstice and Equinox holidays along with the beginnings of every season. They decided that the four months containing a Solstice or Equinox would be 33 days long, and the other twelve months 34 days long.

As soon as the settlement was built they began creating their version of utopia. They had decided upon their criminal code and the resulting punishments before ever leaving Earth. The result was startlingly simple; either you committed a social crime, or a social and personal crime. A social crime always resulted in counseling for the first two offenses, and lifetime imprisonment for the third, social crimes were all crimes other than violent assault with intent to kill, murder, and rape, which were defined as personal and social crimes and resulted in immediate lifetime imprisonment. The reasoning behind the decisive punishment was two fold, one to protect society, and two to prevent a person who would commit such crimes from ever having offspring.

Secondly, they developed the tests by which Pegasus's citizens would prove their fitness as individuals and members of society. The tests were divided out by the elements, Fire, Water, Earth and Air, and the tests would take place first on Pegasus and then on Crucible.

The tests of Fire and Water were simple survival tests of hot environmental conditions and cold environmental conditions. The test of Earth was a test of one's ability to create the essential necessities for survival from the simplest implements; the test of Air was a test of one's leadership abilities, showing that you could guide others and ensure their survival as well as your own.

The tests of Fire, Water and Earth were four part tests, the first part tested how well one contributed to the success of a randomly selected group undergoing the test with you, the second part tested how well one fared in the same circumstances as an individual. Parts one and two were held on Pegasus, then the tests repeated, only upon Crucible. The test of Air due to its nature was a two part test, first leading a group on Pegasus, and second leading a group upon Crucible.

They began testing first with the older adults, developing and refining the challenges to be overcome, and then, once the tests were close to their final form, they began testing those who had just reached the age of adulthood, which they decided would be 11 Pegasus years or 16.5 Earth years old.

The reward was a very public one, an intricate blending of old Earth Celtic knot and tribal tattoo design combined into a complex facial tattoo, the completed design was comprised of smaller parts, one for each test completed. Once one had completed all four tests on Pegasus, and all four tests on Crucible, the entire left side of the face would be covered by the tattoo, making a very obvious statement of one's accomplishments. The public nature of the tattoo had the desired effect, one risked extreme social disgrace by choosing as a partner someone who had failed to complete at least the Pegasus portion of the tests.

The flip side of the draconian laws and expectations was the emphasis placed upon medical care for pregnant women, ensuring that the unborn fetus was as healthy as medical care could guarantee, and that any defects, genetic or otherwise, were found and cured before the increased gravity caused a miscarriage. After the child was born, the child and their family were provided with free counseling throughout the entire 11 years of childhood, to make sure that the child was mentally and socially well adapted and that they could meet the societal expectations placed upon them.

For those who could not adapt to the planet, or the intense societal expectations, transportation was provided to take them back to Earth when contact was reestablished 26 Pegasus years later. Every year thereafter, transportation was provided for those who wanted to leave Pegasus, but surprisingly, after the first group of dissatisfied colonists returned to Earth, subsequent years resulted in very few of Pegasus' citizens choosing to leave their home. After becoming part of the Federation, those sentenced on Pegasus to life imprisonment were given the opportunity to serve standard Federation sentences in Federation prisons for their crimes, but once they had finished serving their Federation terms they were never again allowed on Pegasus.


	2. Chapter 1

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 1**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasians, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 02/16/06; 02/22/07

Summary: Curiosity can lead to unexpected events.

* * *

Stardate 51004.2 (Wed, 02 Jan 2374 13:15 GMT)

Lt. Alexa Nikoleon entered the mess hall and glanced around, she flashed a quick grin in the direction of her friends as she noted the empty chair between Lt. Chapman and Ensign Hickman. Susan Nicoletti and Chapman returned the smile, drawing the attention of Hickman and Vorik who turned and nodded at her before returning their attention to the conversation the four had evidently been involved in before her entrance.

Continuing over toward the counter, she greeted the Talaxian behind it, "Good afternoon Neelix."

Neelix turned and smiled as he recognized Alexa's voice, his eyes going reflexively to the tattoo covering the left side of her olive skinned face. Even though he had seen her multiple times almost every day for the past three years, he still found himself fascinated with it. The flaming reds, oceanic blues, earth toned rusty browns, and glittering blue white designs surrounded the central tattoo of a winged horse. The design was as distinctive as it was colorful, and marked her as a native of Pegasus, one that had completed all four sets of trials on both Pegasus and Crucible. Alexa had given him a brief explanation of her tattoo after he had asked her about it several years ago, and then Neelix had looked up the details of the trials in Voyager's computers. It had made for some fascinating reading.

"So what's for lunch today?" she smiled, amused, watching his eyes move quickly from her cheek back to her eyes. It was a reaction she had gotten used to after leaving Pegasus for Starfleet Academy, and one she was quite used to with Neelix, he looked at her facial tattoo almost every time he spoke to her.

"Pleeka rind casserole, it's been so busy ever since we entered Borg space I haven't had time to fix anything more complicated." He replied apologetically.

Alexa shrugged, "Pleeka rind casserole it is then," she said philosophically, having gotten only too used to eating the dish during their time in the Delta Quadrant. It was at least marginally better in her opinion than Leola root stew, which she had half-way been expecting given the replicator rationing that had been instituted since the decision had been made to take the Northwest Passage across Borg space. And besides, either dish was considerably better than some of the things she had learned to eat during her training for the tests.

"So what's the latest news on our passage through Borg space?" she asked curiously as she sat down between William Chapman and Marie Hickman. All four of her friends stared at her in surprise.

Sue Nicoletti shook her head disgustedly, "You've been in the Jeffries tubes all day haven't you."

"Yes?" Alexa drawled the answer out.

Maria Hickman snickered, "Torres has a long memory," she noted, referring to the fact that both before and after Torres had been made Chief Engineer, Alexa had made comments about the half-Klingon's lack of control over her temper.

Alexa had rather coolly informed the half-Klingon Marquis, after one of her spectacular fits of temper, that she had seen four year olds with better emotional control. Once Torres had been made Chief Engineer she had offered to start off with a clean slate with Alexa, just as she had with Carey. Alexa had agreed, but only a few days later she had watched with open disgust as Torres had yelled curses at the engineering crew in what in her opinion was a dramatic display of unprofessionalism.

Torres had noticed her expression and pulled her into her office. Once there, when Torres had asked Alexa at volume what her problem was she had calmly informed her that she had never seen Worf, whom she had met during her assignment aboard the Enterprise before asking for the transfer to Voyager, act like a petulant child. Thus she had to assume that Torres was using her Klingon heritage as an excuse for the lack of control over her temper. Alexa had thought Torres would attack her for a moment, but she had controlled herself and only snarled for Alexa to leave. Not surprisingly, it was a moment that Torres had never forgotten or apparently forgiven, judging from the assignments she regularly handed Alexa which kept the Pegasian far away from Engineering.

"There are Borg drones on board, they beamed over with Captain Janeway and Tuvok when the cube was destroyed," blurted out Chapman.

Alexa paused mid-bite, "What?" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Janeway and Tuvok are in Sickbay, and the drones are being held somewhere, but only security knows where and they aren't telling." Nicoletti replied.

"Probably the Brig, it's the most secure location on the ship," Chapman theorized.

Alexa's eyes were drawn to the movement of the mess hall door's opening, "I think someone's looking for us," she commented quietly upon seeing a displeased looking Lt. Torres enter and immediately look toward their table.

"I see we're lazy engineers once again, daring to pause for a bit to eat." Hickman commented quickly before Torres came within hearing range. Everyone, except Vorik who merely raised one angled brow at the comment, suppressed their grins as the Lieutenant crossed over to their table.

Testily, the half-Klingon commented, "If your done with your lunch we still have several repairs to make after that last attack." Torres watched as the other three rose, taking their trays with them to recycle. The half-Klingon glanced quickly at Alexa, who was still eating, but did not say anything to her before following them out.

The dark haired, olive skinned woman sighed as she watched them leave, Lt. Torres was correct, there were still many repairs that needed to be made, and made as quickly as possible, for another attack could come at any moment.

An hour later Alexa had just finished repairing the plasma relays in Jeffries tube 9 alpha section 5. Looking at the PADD of tasks Lt. Torres had given her first thing in the morning, she mentally computed the quickest route to the cargo bay on deck 8 section 4, and realized that the shortest way was actually through the Jeffries tube she was currently in now. Just a few meters to her left was the hatch to a ladder leading down to Jeffries tube 8 alpha section 5 and a few meters further along that tube was an opening to the cargo bay where the next repair needed to be made.

Humming cheerfully to herself, Alexa unlocked the magnetic seals of the Jeffries tube hatch and swung it open, then went silent in startled surprise. The on and off green glow was her first clue that something was drastically different about the cargo bay, her second clue was the chilly female voice challenging her presence, "State your intention."

Armor sheathed legs entered her view, and as her gaze moved upward, and yet upward still, she leaned further out of the opening, her brown-green hazel eyes widening as they wandered over the curves of definitely feminine hips, and a narrow waist. Alexa blinked once as her eyes traced the clearly defined contours of full breasts, and then she finally met the drone's one grey-blue eye, the other either replaced or covered by a large implant what wrapped around the side of the drone's head and protruded outward a good six inches or so.

'Well they definitely aren't in the Brig,' Alexa thought to herself after she recovered from her surprise, and decided that there was immediate threat of assimilation. Belatedly, remembering the drone's question, she restrained herself from making a completely unacceptable comment such as asking if the body armor was possibly removable, and simply answered, "I'm supposed to repair the EPS power relay for this cargo bay."

Alexa silently chastised herself for the lecherous direction her thoughts had taken, and cursed yet again the sheer bad luck that she had managed to find herself not only on a vessel stranded 35 years from Earth, but one on which, despite the percentages which said there should be at least three other gay women aboard given the crew size, she was as far as she could tell after almost four years, the only lesbian.

The drone examined her dispassionately for a few seconds, and then stepped out of the way, "Proceed," she ordered, and then turned back to whatever task she had been doing before Alexa's entrance.

Alexa craned her head around to watch her leave, noting with amazement that even with the unattractive grey cast to her skin, the body armor, and plates and tubes sticking out from the female's head, that the drone still managed to be attractive.

Even though her instincts were screaming at her that she was walking into a lion's den, curiosity and her own Pegasian nature were insisting that she do just that. She wasn't usually wild or reckless, but she had an intense need to prove that she could match anyone else's achievements, meet and pass any challenge placed before her.

She knew that Worf along with others, had been on a Borg ship and escaped, and the Captain had bargained with the Borg aboard their own Cube just yesterday, and despite being injured had and returned alive and unassimilated. The idea of being able to walk among these drones and escape assimilation herself was just too much of a challenge to pass up. And besides, given the female drone's reaction, assimilation was not on these Borg's list of things to do, at least not at this moment. The repair should only take ten or fifteen minutes, and then she would leave and have quite a story to tell her friends over dinner tonight.

Having talked herself into entering the cargo bay, she grabbed her engineering toolkit and cautiously slid out of the Jeffries tube, looking around the cargo bay curiously as she stood. The entire right side of the bay had been taken over by the Borg drones, and now contained two rows of what she recognized as regeneration alcoves, one row against the original wall, and the other row, which faced it, placed in the middle of the cargo bay. New pylons were placed where there had been cargo racks, and she could see that the rounded columns contained data interfaces of some type.

There were four other drones… no five, all male, present in the cargo bay besides the female drone. They moved around performing their tasks, or stood unmoving in their alcoves and completely ignored her presence, just like the drones in the stories she had heard about the Borg. In fact, the one drone who was acting decidedly different from the drones in the stories, and, for that matter, unlike the other drones in the cargo bay, was the female drone who had challenged her.

Alexa looked over at the female who was working at one of the new pylons, tapping the dots on it in rapid order and looking at the results, and examined her curiously. The drone turned around, regarding her alertly and returning her look stare for stare, sharp intelligence unmistakable in the one remaining eye, "What's your name?" Alexa asked.

"My designation," the drone corrected her haughtily, "is Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero One."

Before she could censor the words Alexa commented, "You act differently than the others; you're more alert, more aware." Only after she had made the statement did she think that, attractiveness and unusualness aside, perhaps engaging the female drone in conversation was not the quickest way to get her task done and get herself out of a potentially dangerous situation.

"I am an adjunct," the female drone replied, as if that were all the explanation needed, and perhaps it was, whatever it was that an adjunct was and did.

Alexa nodded, deciding that discretion was definitely better than continued curiosity at this point. She walked over to the left side of the bay and pulling the correct panel from the wall began scanning the malfunctioning plasma relay.

She had almost completed her repairs when a deep male voice announced, "Species 8472 has penetrated Matrix 010 grid 19. Eight planets destroyed. 312 vessels disabled. Four million, six hundred, twenty-one Borg eliminated. We must seize control of the Alpha Quadrant vessel and take it into the alien realm."

Alexa cursed silently to herself and tapped her communications badge, "Lt. Nikoleon to Cmdr. Tuvok," she whispered into it hurriedly, instinctually maintaining her calm as she had been taught when still a child on Pegasus. There was not even the characteristic chirp to indicate that a communication's channel had been opened. Whirling around, she saw the drones closing in on her location.

She took off at a dead sprint toward the door, and when a drone blocked her way, she unhesitatingly tackled him, hitting him in his armor clad stomach with her shoulder and grasping him about the waist at the same moment. Using her forward momentum to twist the both of them off their feet, she swung the drone clockwise in a 180 degree arch over and around her own body. The two of them ended up on the floor with him on his back and her on top for a second before she released him and started forward again, only to crash back down to the floor when one of the drones wrapped one arm around her throat and with the other arm thrust its assimilation tubules into her neck.


	3. Chapter 2

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 2**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasians, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 02/18/06; 02/22/07

Summary: Everyone, hopefully, has heard the old saying 'for want of a nail, the war was lost.' I've got a new one, 'For the assimilation of an engineer…'

* * *

Stardate 51004.5 (Wed, 02 Jan 2374 15:32 GMT)

Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 01 watched as Nine of Ten, Secondary Data Core Engineer of Subjunction 12, Cube 178, Unimatrix 12 withdrew his assimilation tubules from the neck of the new drone. The woman cried out once before going silent, her dusky skin graying from the rapidly proliferating nanoprobes in her bloodstream.

As Eight of Ten clambered back onto his feet from where the human woman had thrown him to the deck, Seven of Nine ordered Six of Ten to scan for any activity which would indicate that the sound created while assimilating the woman had been detected by the security guards placed outside the cargo bay doors. Seven of Nine disliked being unable to follow the Collective's order immediately, but the assimilation of the human engineer required her to perform a few tasks before she could continue.

Normally a new drone would be transported onto a Borg ship where the local vinculum would scan through their memories and discard those deemed irrelevant to the Collective, then the relevant memories would be purged of their emotional content. At that point an assimilation drone would decide what task the new drone's body would be best suited for based on the new drone's physical and mental capabilities. After that the drone's initial duties and designation would be determined so the process of secondary assimilation could begin.

But there was no vinculum or assimilation drone available, so the task fell to Seven of Nine, and it was presenting some unforeseen difficulties for her. The new drone's memories were chaotic, filled with emotion, and as different from the emotionally void memories she was familiar with as water was from wine. The most recent memories were the ones fresh in the new drone's mind, the self-directed anger for deciding to enter the cargo bay in the first place, and then failing to escape, and the physical pain associated with the assimilation. There were confused flashes of memory, a hot reddish rocky desert, a man's face lecturing on the dangers of uncontrolled instinctual responses, snow and tall green trees and rugged mountains, and images of herself.

Seven of Nine's mind focused curiously on these impressions of her, never before having had access to such unfiltered, and thus still emotionally charged memories. The human female had found her sexually attractive, despite being mildly repulsed by the obvious Borg armor and implants. She had found Seven of Nine's body shape and facial structure pleasing, and the manner in which Seven of Nine had spoken, moved and acted had intrigued her. Fleeting speculative images of what she might look like without the body armor and minus a few implants, plus a few decidedly carnal ideas about what to do with such an accessible body, had flowed through the female's mind before they were abruptly reined in, defined as inappropriate, and put aside as extremely unlikely given the circumstances.

Sexual attraction, and sexual intercourse for both reproductive and non-reproductive purposes, was a subject Seven understood only in a clinical manner. She knew the typical psychological and physiological effects of sexual attraction, and the mechanical process of several species methods of sexual intercourse, but as she had been a drone for most of her life, she had never actually experienced either sexual attraction or sexual intercourse. Nor had she ever had access to an unfiltered memory of such an event, at least not before now. The woman's memories were intense, filled with information from all the senses, the sound of passionate cries, the scent and taste of musky arousal, the feel of bare skin on bare skin, and threaded throughout with a complex mixture of emotions that Seven of Nine found intriguing--possessiveness, tenderness, concern, and desire.

It took Seven of Nine 5.56 seconds before she realized that these memories and their accompanying emotions were completely irrelevant to determining the new drone's purpose and designation. The lack of a vinculum was negatively affecting her efficiency, Seven decided, frowning very slightly, as she forced herself to complete the drone's assessment, and ignore the new drone's previous thoughts concerning her, after all she was Borg, and such things were irrelevant.

"Your designation is Five of Ten, Quinary Data Core Engineer of Subjunction 12, Cube 178 Unimatrix 12." Seven announced abruptly, ignoring for now that Cube 178 had been destroyed while protecting Voyager from the Species 8472 ship. The new drone, as with the five remaining drones from Cube 178, would be given another designation as soon as they were back aboard a Borg ship, for now the drone needed to be part of this subunit.

It was, of course, yet another irrelevant emotion, but Seven found herself hoping that returning to a Borg ship would occur sooner rather than later, the lack of a vinculum and the resulting increasingly chaotic and emotional nature of her thoughts was disturbing. She turned and faced the hatch that the human engineer had entered the cargo bay from, Six of Ten had completed his scan and determined that the humans had not detected the assimilation; it was time to carry out the Collectives order.

* * *

"Commander we are in orbit around a class H moon, oxygen-argon atmosphere," Lt. Paris reported and swiveled around in his seat to look at Chakotay curiously.

"That'll do," Chakotay responded, "Secure orbit. Tuvok prepare to beam anything containing a nanoprobe or Borg signature down onto that planet. Once they are there we will send down the modified nanoprobes."

"The internal sensors are still damaged from the attack. I am unable to get a specific transporter lock on the drones, but I am able to get a lock on all objects containing a Borg signature," Tuvok announced a moment later.

"That's why I suggested it," Chakotay commented. "Beam them down." he ordered. Turning around he caught sight of Ensign Kim's face, "What?" he asked shortly.

Kim looked uncomfortable but none the less answered, "What if it takes the Borg a few days to pick them up? Don't they need to regenerate to survive?"

"Concerned I'm just killing them off?" Chakotay asked him hard-faced. Kim's dark eyes fell away from his, and Chakotay realized that the Ensign thought just that. "Send down a solar generator and a survival kit, I'm sure they can figure out how to connect a few of their alcoves to it and take turns."

"Yes, sir," Kim's face lightened and he focused his attention on his console. Moments later he looked up again, "Commander I located a solar generator and survival kit in the lower deck Cargo Bay 1, and beamed them down to the Borg's location."

Tuvok interrupted, "Commander I'm detecting the formation of a singularity 2 light years away." He and Chakotay stared at each other grimly.

Chakotay tapped his com badge, "Doctor we need to send down those modified nanoprobes now, we're about to have some unfriendly company."

* * *

As soon as they finished materializing, Seven of Nine informed the Collective that not only had they failed to seize Voyager and take it into the alien realm, but that they were no longer even aboard the Federation vessel. A Cube had already been diverted to Voyager's last known position to locate and retrieve them. If the human male did as he had said he would and transported down a sample of the modified nanoprobes, the alliance with the human ship would not be a complete failure.

The drones had been placed within a large canyon, jagged grayish-brown cliffs, completely bare of any vegetation, surrounded them to the north, east and south. Wind blew fiercely, stirring up the fine soil, and lowering visibility to around 20 meters. It was cold as well, around -9 degrees Celsius, and with the wind blowing at around 76 km per hour, the effective temperature was closer to -26 degrees Celsius. Seven of Nine could see no sign of surface water, and judging from the dryness of the thin atmosphere there was not likely to be any.

She had determined from Voyager's location, the thinness and composition of the atmosphere, and the low gravity, that they had most likely been placed upon the Class H Moon of the fourth planet of G4 star system in Matrix 12 Grid 05. The only remarkable thing about the moon was the presence of occasional Fistrium deposit which interfered with scans of the surface. It contained no other significant mineral deposits or life forms more advanced than unicellular bacteria.

Everything that had been transported over with them from the Borg Cube had been beamed down with them. After their transportation on the uneven surface, the alcoves and pylons containing data processing interfaces stood, leaned, or had fallen over, and the disorganization of the normally ordered equipment assaulted Seven of Nine's senses. She looked over at the solar collector and the storage crate with the prominent marking upon it that indicated it contained survival equipment. The two items had been beamed down after their transport from the Cargo Bay to the surface of this moon.

She had not expected the humans to take steps to ensure their survival until the Borg arrived. The new male leader had seemed solely focused on removing them as quickly as possible from the Starfleet vessel without regard to anything else, such as the Borg's prior agreement with Captain Janeway.

The inclusion of the survival kit was confusing, Seven of Nine was certain that the humans had not detected the assimilation of the engineer. She knew that Voyager's sensors had been damaged during the attack by Species 8472, and assumed that the humans had simply beamed everything with a Borg signature off the ship, not realizing that there were now seven drones instead of the six that had originally transported onto Voyager.

Seven was certain that otherwise they would have tried to retrieve the new drone, not transported it down with them. The contents of the survival kit would be fairly useless to Borg if they could connect the solar generator and operate at least one alcove from it, but the new drone could not regenerate until her assimilation was complete, and the contents of the kit would be essential to ensure its survival.

The sound of a transporter beam drew her attention; sitting atop the survival crate was a new addition, a medical stasis tube. Seven of Nine crossed over to it and picked it up; inside was a sealed vial containing a silvery-grey substance. The human male called Chakotay had apparently done as he had promised he would, unless he was deceiving the Borg, this should be the sample of modified nanoprobes.

It would take the Borg cube 11.89 hours to reach this location at warp 9.995. The singularities Species 8472 was creating to enter this universe had the side effect of disrupting space in such a manner as to destabilize transwarp corridors. Otherwise the Borg would have sent a Cube to escort Voyager immediately, and the human male would not have dared break the agreement, or transport them off Voyager.

Seven of Nine ordered the others to begin scanning for a more suitable location to set up the solar collector and alcoves, the location they had been transported down to was too open, too unsheltered. If she were correct about the location, the moon would become very cold, -35 degrees Celsius, during its night. The fully assimilated drones might survive it, if they were protected from the wind, but the partially assimilated new drone would not without shelter and heat, and was already shivering in its thin Starfleet uniform, trying to maintain its core body temperature.

The new drone, Five of Ten, was the first to respond drawing the other drones attentions to the shear cliffs in the north, and a dark shadowed area that might be an opening to a cave. Seven of Nine, using her visual implant, was able to immediately confirm that Five of Ten was correct, the dark area was indeed an opening in the cliff face.

Seven of Nine, carrying the stasis tube, ordered Five of Ten to take the crate containing the survival kit with her to the opening. She ordered the other five drones to move the solar collector and one of the alcoves to the same location. As the small group crossed the distance to the promised shelter of the opening, Seven of Nine observed the new drone. The short dark hair was falling out in clumps as the nanoprobes destroyed the hair follicles, since they were unessential to the drone's functioning, and claw shaped implants were visible on her left cheek, and upon the right hand. The assimilation process had stopped with the formation of the basic implants, the neural transceiver connecting her to the Collective, and cortical node; the last stage of assimilation would have to wait until the Cube retrieved them.

The Tertiary Adjunct was aware now of the reason for the unusual markings on the new drone's face, and the survival knowledge the drone possessed might prove relevant during the next few days until the Cube arrived. But it had been the drone's culture, not its survival knowledge that had been of the most interest to the Collective and to Seven of Nine. The Pegasian emphasis on harmony, cohesion, and working for the good of the whole was almost Borg like, she noted in approval.

Seven of Nine frowned, approval was an emotion and therefore irrelevant, the new drone possessed knowledge of a planet and culture previously unknown to the Borg, one that highly valued cooperation between its members, that was enough reason to make her a valuable addition to the Collective, not her own irrelevant emotions about the new drone's society. For the second time, Seven of Nine longed for a vinculum to enforce order upon her thoughts, and eliminate the emotional content of the new drone's memories from her cortical node as they seemed to be causing similar changes in her own thoughts.

They had reached the opening in the cliff face. Stepping inside, it became clear that this was indeed the opening to a cavern as opposed to just the shadow of an overhang. The cave floor was just as rocky and uninviting, as the surface outside, and seemed to extend quite a distance into the surface of the planet. Seven of Nine ordered the male drones to place the alcove and solar collector just inside the opening, and then to begin moving the remainder of the Borg equipment from where they had been transported down to the cave. Once the five drones had begun walking back to the transport site, she turned to the new drone.

Five of Ten was standing inside the cavern, where Seven of Nine had directed it, and was awaiting instructions. The sedative effect of the initial assimilation was designed to minimize the physiological trauma and shock resulting from the rapid formation of the initial implants and the introduction during the secondary assimilation process of new ones. The new drone would be completely dependent on Seven of Nine's instructions for at least 10 more hours when the nanoprobes would cease producing the chemical.

Evaluating the new drone's physical condition, Seven of Nine frowned; Five of Ten's core temperature had dropped even further. From the technical specifications she had been provided with as part of her assignment as liaison to the humans, she knew that the crate the new drone was carrying should contain a shelter, emergency blankets and a small heater. Giving Five of Ten specific directions, Seven of Nine watched the new drone for a few moments to ensure that she was following her instructions, then turned back to the solar collector and began to modify it to power a Borg alcove.

Eight and Thirty-three of Ten's sudden silence, and Nine, Six and Thirty-two of Ten's report of hostile fire interrupted her actions only seconds later. Species 8472 had located them, stepping to the cavern opening Seven of Nine could see the bright orange-yellow beams of their bioship's weapons striking the transport site. The three remaining drones had scattered, obeying the Collective's orders not to return to the cavern as they would lead Species 8472 there. The drones were not essential to the Collectives survival, but the modified nanoprobes were, and were to be protected at all costs.

Seven of Nine ordered Five of Ten to stop her current task and assist her with moving the solar collector and alcove further into the cavern, she did not know what scanning capabilities Species 8472 possessed, but currently a simple visual search would lead to their, and the nanoprobes, discovery. The two female drones easily lifted the alcove and proceeded deeper into the cave, approximately 21 meters from the entrance the passageway widened again into a large cavern, a narrow opening off to their left drew her attention. It appeared to be a narrow passageway, she directed Five of Ten to retrieve the crate of survival gear and bring it to this location while she explored the side passage.

Nine of Ten was the next drone to cease communicating with the Collective as she and entered the narrow passageway, Seven of Nine paused a moment, Nine of Ten had not died immediately as the others, there had been severe pain and his normally ordered thoughts had grown chaotic before he ceased to function. Forcefully ordering her thoughts, and after a brief pause to reinforce her instructions to Five of Ten, who had been similarly affected by Nine of Ten's deactivation, Seven of Nine continued.

The side passage continued for 15 meters before it widened into a small, low cavern. Seven of Nine became aware of increased moisture in the air, she entered the cavern and noticed one wall was damp with water, it flowed down the wall and had carved a small depression in the floor, forming a shallow pool that overflowed into a thin rivulet of water that disappeared into a small crevasse in the far side of the cavern. The floor of the cavern was littered with loose rocks, they would be able to use these to seal up the entrance and hopefully disguise their presence.

As she and the new drone retrieved the solar collector, Eight of Ten ceased to function; now only Six of Ten remained and he was directed to go in the opposite direction from the cavern in an attempt to lead Species 8472 away from the modified nanoprobes. Fifteen minutes later Six of Ten was still functioning, and all of their equipment had been moved into the smaller cavern. Seven of Nine and Five of Ten were in the process of moving the loose stones from the cavern floor, to the passageway, and piling them at the entrance to conceal its existence.

It took them another twenty minutes to complete the task, during which Six of Ten abruptly ceased communications with the Collective. As they returned to the cavern from the now blocked passageway, Seven of Nine was aware that Five of Ten was dangerously cold; the drone was moving and thinking sluggishly, its core temperature down to 33 degrees Celsius despite the activity Seven of Nine was forcing it to do. She was aware that if its body temperature was not raised quickly it would cease to function. Seven of Nine's core temperature was still normal, but she was aware that it too would start to drop once she stopped moving around.

Moving with swift efficiency, Seven of Nine removed the shelter from the survival kit and placed it upon the open space they had cleared while sealing off the passageway. A simple press of a switch activated the shelter, causing it to unfold and form a rounded dome designed to hold up to four people. Pulling the heating unit and emergency blankets from the kit she placed them in the shelter and directed Five of Ten to enter. Seven of Nine followed the new drone into the shelter and sealed it behind them. They had done all they could to protect themselves from discovery, and she had detected signs of Fistrium in the walls of this cavern, hopefully there was enough of the reflective ore present to prevent Species 8472 from detecting them.

Both Borg survival protocols and the new drone's knowledge, indicated that the most expedient way of raising Five of Ten's core temperature was for Seven of Nine to modify her body armor so that it would transfer her thermal energy to the other drone, while the heating unit raised the temperature in the shelter to acceptable levels. The flooring of the shelter was insulated and padded, but Seven of Nine laid down one of the reflective blankets upon it anyway, and ordered the Five of Ten to remove its clothing as she awkwardly lowered herself to lie down on top of the silver colored blanket. Seven of Nine instructed her nanoprobes to modify her body armor as survival protocols indicated, and as soon as the now nude Five of Ten joined her, Seven of Nine covered both of their bodies with the remaining emergency blankets and instructed the drone to get as close as possible to her.

Since Five of Ten did not have any body armor, close was close indeed, and Seven of Nine was surprised at how the new drone managed to practically molded her body against the Tertiary Adjunct's warmer one, ending with her head tucked underneath Seven of Nine's chin. Fifteen minutes later Seven of Nine was relieved when Five of Ten started shivering against her, indicating that her core temperature had risen to 35 degrees Celsius. In another fifteen minutes Five of Ten had stopped shivering, and the formerly tense cold body, now warm again, relaxed. As Seven of Nine continued to monitor the new drone, its thoughts became disordered, less coherent and eventually it began to sleep, a process that the Tertiary Adjunct observed with fascination.

Suddenly her attention was drawn from the sleeping drone to the information flowing through the Collective mind. Species 8472 had stepped up their attacks; the number of bioships in this space was now estimated to be four times the number it had been only two hour ago. Grids 012, 007, and 009 had been penetrated by Species 8472, another 25 planets had been destroyed, 467 vessels disabled, and 6290379 Borg destroyed. At the current rate Species 8472 was creating singularities and moving bioships from fluidic space into this galaxy, the Collective's defeat would be inevitable if the modified nanoprobes were not retrieved within the next 24 hours.


	4. Chapter 3

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 3**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasians, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 02/20/06; 02/22/07

Summary: Sometimes Murphy puts in overtime, and if you could find him you'd bring back burning at the stake.

* * *

Stardate 51005.4 (Wed, 02 Jan 2374 23:30 GMT)

The Cube sent to retrieve them had been destroyed, and no other Borg vessels were within range to retrieve the nanoprobes within the next 24 hours. The Borg had already tried and failed to create a transwarp tunnel to this moon from unaffected regions of space, losing ten vessels in the attempt. Neither the medical tricorder nor the regular tricorder contained in the Starfleet survival kit had the resolution to determine the modifications made to the nanoprobes to make them effective against Species 8472, and attempts to contact the Starfleet vessel Voyager had been unsuccessful.

Failure after failure chipped away at the tactical projections, until only the unlikely possibilities that Voyager contacted the Borg, an unknown ally came to the Borg's aid, or Species 8472 ceased its attacks, resulted in any likelihood of the Collectives success in this conflict. The past six hours brought consecutive reports of incursions closer to Grid 001. The Borg had lost 145 planets, 689 vessels, and 1,465,895,345 Borg in total since the conflict with Species 8472 had begun.

Seven of Nine stared at the medical stasis tube containing the modified nanoprobes, her mind searching yet again for some way to determine the changes made to them, even though the entire Borg Collective had been attempting the same task for the last four hours unsuccessfully. Upgrading the medical tricorder was possible by taking parts from the alcove and solar collector, but the estimated resolution after the upgrade did not even approach that needed for the task.

But she could not, would not, cease her attempt, no matter how unlikely it was that she would succeed, for the alternative was unthinkable, the Borg could not be defeated. What would her existence be like if the Collective's measureless voice was silenced? Six years ago, her neural transceiver had been damaged when the Borg sphere she had been on had crash landed upon Planet 1865 Alpha. It had been a difficult, frightening, time for her until the Borg Cube had retrieved them, repaired their neural transceivers, and re-linked them to the Collective. She did not want to experience that silence again, she was Borg, part of a harmonious whole, every drone working toward the same goal, perfection, she was not small, not individual, and did not wish to be.

Five of Ten stirred and made a distressed sound, drawing Seven of Nine's attention. The drone's mind was active, distorted images flickering through it at a rapid pace--walking down a section corridor of some Cube with something unknown rapidly coming up from behind and attacking--moving through corridors stepping over the bodies of dead drones--coming face to face with the body of a dead drone in an alcove that tilted forward and fell toward… Seven wrenched herself from the drone's sleeping mind, confused by the images.

Staring perplexed at Five of Ten, it took a few seconds until Seven of Nine realized what was happening. The images were real ones, only from the minds of other drones, and were currently part of the Collective's consciousness. She had dismissed them as irrelevant to her current task and was ignoring them, but the new drone was sleeping, and her mind was trying to make sense of the images in the only way it was familiar, as a dream.

The drone cried out as a particularly vivid image of Species 8472 appeared in its dream and attacked slashing at the drone's face. Concerned, Seven of Nine connected again with the drones sleeping mind and ordered it to ignore all data not specifically directed to it. The image and phantom pain of the injury faded from Five of Ten's mind, and the drone relaxed and slipped into a deeper sleep. Seven of Nine continued to monitor her for another few minutes to ensure that the drone was obeying her directive.

Once satisfied that Five of Ten was complying, she turned her attention back to the stasis tube containing the modified nanoprobes and once again attempted to find a solution to the Collective's dilemma.

* * *

Stardate 51005.6 (Thur, 03 Jan 2374 01:30 GMT)

"Would someone like to explain to me exactly how Lt. Nikoleon was transported with the Borg drones?" Captain Janeway snapped at Chakotay and Tuvok. The three of them were the only ones currently present in Sickbay, the Doctor having deactivated himself earlier. The discussion with Chakotay about his decision to transport the drones in the first place and break the alliance had already occurred, the news that Lt. Nikoleon was missing had come approximately one hour after that heated discussion.

"I knew the internal sensors were still damaged, so I ordered the wide beam transportation to include anything containing a Borg signature," Chakotay spoke before Tuvok could, he knew the Vulcan blamed himself for transporting Lt. Nikoleon, but it had been his command that the Vulcan had been following. Janeway was already furious with him for breaking the alliance against her wishes; a bit more anger was not going to change much at this point.

"Despite the fact that it was Commander Chakotay's order, it was my responsibility to check the transportation buffer before completing the transportation, if I had done so I might have been able to determine the presence of an extra done." Tuvok interrupted Chakotay stoically.

Captain Janeway fixed him with a look that held equal mixtures of anger and disappointment, "You're right, it was."

Chakotay saw Tuvok's face grow even grimmer at the words. "The only way for her to have been included in that sensor scan was for her to have been assimilated before the transportation, and I'm not at all convinced that a look at the transportation buffer would have revealed her inclusion," Chakotay said glancing at Tuvok. Leaning forward, and staring at the Captain intently, he drew Janeway's attention away from Tuvok, "Which shows that they broke the alliance before we ever transported them down to the planet. Lt. Nikoleon was in the Cargo Bay doing a repair; they must have been planning something and assimilated her so that she couldn't warn us."

"Did it occur to you that might have not happened had you not threatened to put them off the ship? The Borg are desperate to get these modified nanoprobes, and desperate people," seeing he was about to speak Janeway raised her voice, "or desperate Borg, do desperate things. You might have pushed them into trying to take over Voyager, if you were planning on transporting them somewhere you should have just done it, and told them after the fact when they couldn't harm the ship."

Chakotay opened his mouth to argue with her then shut it; he knew Janeway could be ruthless when it came to protecting Voyager and its crew. It was quite possible that, if she had decided to break the alliance, she would have never tipped her hand to the Borg until it was impossible for them to do anything more than object.

"How soon will repairs be completed?" Janeway asked.

"B'Elanna says eighteen more hours to complete the repairs, we were lucky find this nebula, and slip away from that bioship." Chakotay replied, remembering with a shudder exactly how close it had been, the bioship had come very close to destroying them.

"We're going back for her as soon as they are, the Doctor assures me that he can sever her from the Collective and remove her implants." Janeway's tone and icy glare made it clear that there would be no objections allowed. "We aren't going to leave a crewmember stranded upon a Class L moon for the Borg to pick up, if they are even able to pick them up. We're going back for her." Janeway was satisfied to see two almost identical winces from the men in front of her.

* * *

A shift in the nature of Five of Ten's thoughts alerted Seven of Nine to the fact that the drone was waking. The new drone's eyes snapped open and she sat up abruptly, the silver emergency blankets falling away from her body. As Five of Ten was facing away from the Tertiary Adjunct, Seven of Nine had a clear view of the new drones bare muscular back and the tattoo there of two creatures oriented back to back. A query to the new drone identified them as rearing horses, one in reds, oranges and gold, and the other in pale blue, white and silver. The red-gold horse breathed a plume of flames from its flared nostrils, and the white-silver horse a plume of cold; intricate spiraling designs, in the same colors as the horses, formed a circle around the two rearing animals in the center.

Seven of Nine reached out and curiously stroked the markings, questioning Five of Ten as for the reason for them. Images flooded her mind. She was walking round, and round, reddish brown soil and gravel crunching under her booted feet, shaking her arms and legs, trying to keep the muscles relaxed and limber in the cold. Her mind focused on the upcoming task, she mentally ran though a map of the course, as her breath plumed in the cold thin air. The terrain around her could charitably be described as scrubland, exceptionally hardy short, stunted, shrub sized plants and grasses were all that could withstand Crucible's daily extremes of temperature. The land was rocky and rugged, rising and falling in a series of steeply rounded hills.

They had arrived here one hour ago, during the early morning dawn, and waited patiently until the temperature rose from the nightly low of -43 degrees Celsius to 0 degrees Celsius when the marathon would begin. Now it was only a few minutes from the start time, all twenty competitors watched the temperature gauge; it read -1 degrees Celsius, when it changed to 0 they would start the 50 kilometer run. Crucibles short day meant that they had only about two hours and thirty minutes to complete the course before the noonday sun caught up with them, turning the landscape into a shimmering oven at 64 degrees Celsius. Anyone not finishing at time would be transported out and would have to attempt the marathon again the following year. The marathon was called 'Running before the Noonday Sun,' and as the temperature readout shifted from -1 to 0, Alexa began with the others, settling quickly into a steady ground eating pace.

Seven of Nine pulled away from the intensity of the drone's uncensored memories, startled at how it had felt as if she were actually present for that moment. She stared at the red-gold horse and the fiery plume of its breath, signifying Alexa's, Seven of Nine paused confused at her use of the drone's former designation, and corrected herself quickly, Five of Ten's success. Its white-silver twin beside it was for succeeding at running the same distance only starting from just before the planets nightfall, when the temperature again fell to 0 degrees Celsius, and running to just before its midnight and was called 'Running before the Midnight Moon.' That race, however, was run with minimal protective gear, mainly a breathing mask to ensure that the cold air did not damage the runner's lungs.

Seven could feel Alexa's strong emotional response at having been to be one of only three competitors to attempt both marathons in the same day, instead of waiting until the next year to do the second run. A quick query identified the emotion as pride, the satisfaction in attempting and succeeding at a difficult task. Seven examined the emotional response once again curiously, and then continued interrogating Five of Ten's memories about the event.

To run the two marathons in the same day meant that you only had five hours to rest in between them, and was a challenge few cared to attempt, of the three that had run both with her, Alexa had been the only one to succeed. That she had succeeded was shown in the tattoo by the fact that the backs of the two horses were touching slightly instead of having the usual inch of space between them; showing that the runs were literally done 'back to back.' On average only two people a year succeeded in doing both runs, and Alexa had been pleased to know that on that year she had been the only one, that in the official records there would be only one name for that year for the double run; hers.

Approximately twenty percent of Pegasus's population was entitled to have both of the tattoos, only one percent had the 'back to back' version of the tattoo, and the two runs were recognized to be among the four most difficult individual tests offered on Crucible. The two higher ranked tests, stays of a month and six months upon Crucibles surface, starting with minimal survival gear and two protective suits, one for the day and one for the night, were only held by ten and one percent of Pegasians respectively.

Belatedly, realizing how much time she had spent questioning Five of Ten about the marking, Seven of Nine remonstrated with herself sharply, she had yet again allowed herself to become enmeshed in the new drone's memories. Her last regeneration period had been 12 hours ago on Voyager, but there had been no vinculum present to order her thoughts and purge them of irrelevant ideas and emotions. The last time she had regenerated on a Borg vessel had been 96 hours ago, and it was showing, her thoughts were becoming more disorganized, and she was experiencing irrelevant emotions more frequently. It was not just the fascination with the new drone, but the despair she felt at the thought of the Collective being defeated, and the fear she experienced whenever she contemplated her own existence in such a future.

Not that such an existence was likely, Seven of Nine admitted, thinking of the environment outside the thin insulated walls of the Federation shelter. If the Borg ceased to exist, there was little hope of them being retrieved from the moon's surface. The ration bars in the survival kit would run out in approximately 45 days and the new drone would slowly starve to death since she was unable to regenerate, and Seven of Nine would be alone. She could not exist that way, Seven of Nine knew, she would terminate herself in such circumstances rather than attempt to continue functioning.

She silently ordered Five of Ten to dress and assist her; perhaps there would be something in the new drone's memory that would present a solution to the seemingly insolvable problem of how to determine what modifications were made to the nanoprobes. Seven of Nine did not see how the Federation could possess such knowledge, but then their successful modification of the nanoprobes had been unforeseen as well.

* * *

"Tuvok release the probe, let's see if there's anything waiting out there for us," Captain Janeway ordered. She appeared relaxed, leaning back in her command chair and her hands casually resting upon the armrests, but a certain tenseness to her jaw gave away her true state of mind.

Minute sounds of activity came from around her as Paris maintained the ships relative position just inside the nebula, and Tuvok and Kim worked together to analyze the data coming in from the probe.

A distressed noise from Kim caused her to twist around in her seat, ignoring Chakotay who was sitting broodingly beside her she looked past him at the Ensign. "I'm detecting bioships, Captain," Kim replied apologetically, as if somehow at fault.

"Three bioships to be exact," Tuvok corrected. Janeway turned back around and faced him. "Their positioning indicates that they are waiting for us to leave the nebula."

Her grey eyes met his dark ones, "How long until we have enough of the modified nanoprobes to arm three torpedoes?"

"Forty-eight hours Captain, but I would recommend waiting until we have enough for at least five torpedoes. I doubt these will be the only bioships we encounter." He maintained eye contact with her, emphasizing his words.

"No, I doubt they will be," Janeway replied grimly, wondering how the war between the Collective and Species 8472 was going. Between having no link to the Collective and hiding in this nebula, they had no way of knowing either. "How much longer would that take?" she asked, her voice cool. She didn't like the idea of leaving Lt. Nikoleon on that moon for any longer than absolutely necessary. She had no idea whether or not a Borg ship had already retrieved the drones, but every hour gave the Borg more time to do so.

"Approximately sixty-four hours, or less Captain, the Doctor is currently working on a more efficient way to produce them and believes that he will be able to do so within the next forty-eight hours." Tuvok answered.

Janeway gave a sharp nod, "I think I'll go down and see if the Doctor could use some help," she stood, 'and ask Kes whether or not she's detected anything else from Species 8472,' she thought to herself. "Commander you have the bridge," she commented as she left, barely giving him a glance. As the turbolift began to move, she ran over the possible tactical scenarios, she understood why Chakotay was so afraid of the Borg, but in this case she was convinced he had been dangerously short-sighted. The way the Borg had acted, she suspected Species 8472 would win this war without Voyager's help, on the surface that appeared to be a good thing, but what happened afterward? There was nothing to stop Species 8472 from continuing their attacks throughout the quadrant and perhaps even further, and they had implied in their communications with Kes that they would do just that.

Chakotay smoothed his hands over his thighs uneasily as he watched her leave. Knowing that Kathryn would be angry with him was quite different from the reality of her anger. Staring at the swirling orange colors of the nebula on the viewscreen, he considered once again what he knew of Lt. Nikoleon, and why she had decided to go into that cargo bay instead of turning around and reporting to engineering. A discussion with Ensign Marie Hickman, one of Alexa's friends, had provided some enlightenment, Marie had pointed out that the Captain and Tuvok had been over to the Borg ship and returned unassimilated. It would be just like Alexa to take that as a challenge to go into the cargo bay, do the repair and leave just so she could tell them about doing so later.

It sounded crazy, but then as Hickman had pointed out Pegasians had an element of craziness to their character, otherwise why put themselves though some the things they did just to get tattoos. Chakotay devoutly hoped that Alexa Nikoleon was still alive and still on the moon's surface, and that they would get there in time to rescue her for both of their sakes.

* * *

Stardate 51007.5 (Thur, 03 Jan 2374 17:30 GMT)

There was a moment of almost silence in the Collective's consciousness as the unthinkable moment, the calculated time point where all projections agreed that the Borg no longer possessed the number of ships and drones needed to successfully defend itself, passed. Immediately following, came the order summoning all vessels within a 40 light year radius of Sector 001 to defend Unimatrix 01 and the Unicomplex at Borg Prime, the homeworld of the Borg. All other vessels were to avoid contact with Species 8472 and either travel to Sector 159 and use its transwarp hub to travel to Sector 256, Unimatrix 256 near the galactic center, or travel directly to Unimatrix 256, whichever was closer to them, in an attempt to preserve the Collective should Unimatrix 01 be destroyed.

Seven of Nine looked at the stasis container in her hands, the taunting silvery gray nanoprobes whose programming could have ensured the Collectives defeat of Species 8472. She queried the Collective for instructions, "Protect the modified nanoprobes, Unimatrix 256 will continue efforts to retrieve them. Attempt to find a method to allow Five of Ten, Quinary Data Core Engineer of Subjunction 12, Cube 178 Unimatrix 12 to regenerate to permit its continued functioning." came the brief reply through her neural transceiver.

"I will comply," Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix 01 replied, turning to look at Five of Ten, her mind already busy with its new tasking.


	5. Chapter 4

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 4**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasians, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 02/22/06; 02/22/07

Summary: Destruction and individuality.

* * *

Stardate 51008.1 (Thur, 03 Jan 2374 22:30 GMT)

Five hours after the instructions for her to develop a method to allow Five of Ten to regenerate, Seven of Nine and Five of Ten had devised a way to complete the new drone's cortical node. Seven of Nine would inject Five of Ten with a dose of nanoprobes, connect directly to the new drone's cortical node using her tubules, and instruct the new nanoprobes while they completed Five of Ten's cortical node. The method was not without risks to both Borg, however, so the two of them were continuing to search for ways to perfect it to minimize those risks.

"Five singularities forming, Sector 001, Grid 13, Grid 24, Grid 36, Grid 45, Grid 79," the Collective's voice was distinctly female, this was the voice of Unimatrix 01, the Borg Queen's Unimatrix.

Seven of Nine and Five of Ten were seated in the center of the shelter, Five of Ten more flexible without body armor, was seated cross legged, while Seven of Nine was seated less comfortably, her legs bent beside her and supporting most of her weight on one hand. They had been silently working on their task, but now they paused, staring into space as they listened to the Collective's announcement. Species 8472 had bypassed several sectors, Seven of Nine realized with dismay; they had obviously gathered enough intelligence from their earlier attacks to both locate Unimatrix 01 and the Unicomplex at Borg Prime, and realize their tactical importance to the Borg.

"Bioships entering Sector 001," the Borg Queen started ordering groups of vessels into defensive formations and organizing them to meet Species 8472 as the bioships entered this space.

Automatically Seven of Nine turned her attention from the problem of how to allow Five of Ten to regenerate, to joining Nine of Nine and Eight of Nine, Primary and Secondary Adjuncts to Unimatrix 01, as they assisted the Queen in coordinating the mass of Borg ships in the defense of Sector 001. In total there were 256 Class 4 Tactical Cubes, 456 Class 2b Tactical Cubes, 634 Class 2a Tactical Cubes, 234 Probe ships and 545 Sphere ships who were either present or due to arrive at Sector 001 within the next ninety minutes.

At first, it appeared as if the Collective would be able to hold off Species 8472. By sacrificing Cubes to ram them into the bioships, the Collective managed to destroy the first 35 bioships that entered Sector 001. But the cost had been high, 45 Class 4 Tactical Cubes, 118 Class 2a Tactical Cubes, 27 Class 2b Tactical Cubes, 35 Probe ships and 39 Sphere ships.

Then the next wave appeared from the five singularities, first 5 bioships, and then 15, 36, 56, and the numbers kept rising until 145 bioships in total had entered Sector 001. These bioships fought more defensively, working together, the yellow orange beams of their weapons lashing out and destroying any Borg ship that approached them, preventing the Borg from ramming them. Over the course of the two hours the number of bioships destroyed had only risen to twenty, the number of Borg ships destroyed was much higher, of the force deployed in Sector 001 only 21.8 percent remained.

Finally, after another thirty minutes, the inevitable happened, the bioships closed around Unimatrix 01, and as jackals circling around a wounded beast, their weapons steadily ripped and tore at its automated defenses and regenerative shielding.

Seven of Nine cried out, falling backward onto the shelter floor, as she gripped her head in distress as the Borg Queen's voice, and the ever-present awareness of the other eight members of her group, was ripped away by the destruction of Unimatrix 01. Within nanoseconds, the impersonal voice of Borg Prime, the home world of the Borg, took control of the Collective, ordering what ships remained in Sector 001 to its defense, and reinforcing the earlier orders for all vessels not currently within Sector 001 to proceed to Unimatrix 256.

Seven of Nine attempted to control the emotions that were surging through her, fear, terror, and the sheer disbelief that Unimatrix 01, the other eight of her subunit, and the Borg Queen had been destroyed. Staring up at the pale grayness of the shelters interior, Seven of Nine listened to the preparations of Borg Prime for Species 8472's attack.

There was no projection of success, only the estimation of how long Borg Prime's defenses could prevent it's destruction, occupying Species 8472's attention and increasing the amount of time the Borg vessels outside of Sector 001 had to escape this area of space and make their way to Sector 256. Located close to the galactic core, and far away from any other Borg Unicomplex concentration, Sector 256 had been chosen because every analysis indicated that it was the sector most likely to remain undetected by Species 8472 for the longest period of time. The best projection was that Species 8472 would assume the Borg had been destroyed and would leave this galaxy; the worse projection was that Species 8472 would indeed attempt to destroy all life in this galaxy, in which case Sector 256 would eventually be found, but Species 8472 would have to extensively search for its location.

As she was not assigned to the Unicomplex, Seven of Nine was not required to participate in its defense, and as with the remainder of the Borg Collective, all she could do was monitor its communications. Which she had not been tasked to do, Seven of Nine reminded herself as she recognized she was doing just that. Forcing herself to ignore the irrelevant emotions resulting from the destruction of Unimatrix 01, Seven of Nine levered herself back into her previous seated position. Glancing over at Five of Ten, she mentally calculated the hours the drone had been awake, aware that until the new drone could regenerate it would need frequent pauses for rest.

"Sleep," she ordered Five of Ten, when she realized that the drone had been operating for twenty-two hours. Obediently the drone rose to a kneeling position and awkwardly moved over to the emergency blankets where she lay down and covered herself. Seven of Nine decreased the output of the heating unit to conserve its energy level and forced herself to continue working on the problem of what safety protocols could be employed to ensure neither she nor Five of Ten was disabled when she connected directly to the drones incomplete cortical node.

Thirty minutes later she realized that Five of Ten was still awake, "You must sleep, comply," she ordered.

"Attempting to comply," the drone assured her, closing her hazel eyes once again.

Seven of Nine stared at the drone, perplexed, Five of Ten had not had this difficulty before, the drone had simply slept without any directive from her. She was not aware of exactly what steps the drone had taken to sleep; it had seemed to be an entirely organic, unordered process, requiring no preparation or effort on the part of the drone.

She continued refining the method they had developed, adding safety protocols and considering the timing of the effort. She could go 140 hours without regeneration, but the normal time period was 96 hours. Currently it had been 36 hours since her last regeneration period, they would have to either make the attempt soon or wait until after she regenerated once again. The solar collector Voyager had transported down to them had a full charge, it was enough to run one full regeneration period and keep the heating unit fully charged for another 72 hours if they minimized the heating unit's energy usage. After that, they would have to risk removing the rocks, and set the solar collector out for 12 hours to recharge.

Glancing over at Five of Ten she was aware that the drone was still awake, though attempting to follow her directive. Perhaps recreation of the prior circumstances, minus the hypothermia, was needed theorized Seven of Nine, though she could not see why being unclothed, physically close to another body, and the transference of heat would be necessary for the drone to sleep. She queried Five of Ten about the three specifics, only to get back the prompt reply that no clothes or loose clothing assisted sleep, and at points in the drone's history being physically close to another person, both for the physical closeness and the increased heat generated by two bodies had assisted sleep.

Seven of Nine was surprised, "Very well," she agreed bemused. As Five of Ten removed her clothing, she rearranged the blankets the exact same way they had been when the drone had last slept, and made the required change to her body armor to change its thermal conductivity. As before, once Five of Ten lay down beside her, she covered both of them and allowed the drone to mold herself against her. Five of Ten tucked her head underneath Seven of Nine's chin and let out a slight sigh.

Fifteen minutes later Seven of Nine, who had begun to consider how to create the bio-chips needed to convert the alcoves energy into a form usable by Five of Ten's body, realized that the drone was asleep. Apparently, she noted to herself, she had a sedative effect on Five of Ten.

An hour later, Seven of Nine's attention was occupied not by the bio-chip problem but by the start of Species 8472's attack upon Unicomplex Borg Prime. Five trillion Borg were assigned to Borg Prime, the original planet inhabited by the Borg millennia ago, not even the Borg were certain of exactly when. The planet had been turned into a massive database, the central repository of all knowledge assimilated by the Borg.

Currently, the Unicomplex was in the process of transferring as much of its critical data to Unimatrix 256 as possible before its destruction. Seven of Nine listened to the stream of data, trying not to consider its meaning as the countdown, constantly adjusted as Species 8472 attack continued, continually decreased.

Five of Ten stirred, woke, but Seven of Nine did not give the drone new orders to attempt to sleep. She was aware of what had woken Five of Ten, and that the drone was listening to the stream of data, and the countdown to Borg Prime's destruction just as she was, currently the estimate was 195 minutes, 34.8 seconds.

One hundred and seventy-six minutes later the countdown had decreased to 5 minutes 45.6 seconds. "Disruption of Borg subspace communications imminent, all Borg not within 60 light years of an existing Unimatrix initiate maintenance and survival protocols." The Collective ordered.

Seven of Nine stiffened as she rapidly estimated the location of the nearest still existing Unimatrix, and realized it was 109 light years away. When Borg Prime was destroyed, they would not be able to communicate with any other Borg that were not within the radius of their local subspace communications transceiver. Although she and Five of Ten had already initiated those protocols, they nevertheless replied with their compliance of the Collectives order.

At three minutes twenty-six seconds remaining, the voice of the Collective suddenly went silent; the equipment controlling the subspace communications system had been destroyed.

"Query," Seven of Nine sent to the local subspace node at the same time as Five of Ten. No other Borg replied, apparently they were the only Borg within its radius. In the relative silence Five of Ten's thoughts were the only thing Seven of Nine could hear, they were alone. She heard her breathing, rapid, harsh and loud in the quiet of the shelter as the fact that they were not likely to be retrieved by the Borg for months if ever, crashed down upon her, that Unimatrix 01, Borg Prime, and the 5.2 trillion Borg that had inhabited them, were destroyed and the Collective in a desperate retreat, its only hope that Species 8472 would not be able to detect their presence in Sector 256.

Her panic spread to Five of Ten, but instead of both of them getting caught up in it, and it spiraling out of control, Five of Ten responded quickly and firmly, ordering her to cease. "Stop," the drone commanded both verbally and mentally. A memory, strong and sharp in Five of Ten's mind captured Seven of Nine's attention.

"Stop it Alexa, breath in and out slowly, don't let your panic and fear control you, or they will get you hurt, you control them, not them you." Her father, swarthy-skinned, dark haired and dark eyed, was kneeling down before her, gripping her shoulders in his large hands. She nodded, attempting to control her breathing as her father directed. The body of the muraka, a large cat-like predator of Pegasus, that had sprung out of the tree and attacked them in their small mountain camp, lay ten meters away, the pelt charred from the phaser rifle.

Her father continued, "Remember our ancestors faced saber-toothed tigers and mammoths with naught but primitive spears and throwing sticks, animals much larger and dangerous than that muraka there. Those that panicked died, and those that didn't, that controlled their fear and mastered it, lived to be our ancestors; don't shame them by being unable to do the same."

Alexa nodded, she knew by heart the story of the Woman and the Saber-Toothed Tiger, it was one of the first stories she had leaned to read, "I will not Father," she assured him determinedly.

He gave her a proud smile, "I know you won't Alexa, you're a Nikoleon and an O'Connor, through and through."

Seven of Nine pulled her consciousness forcefully away from the memory, startled and concerned by how easily she had gotten enmeshed in it, to the point that she forgot that she was not Alexa Nikoleon. Yet it the memory had succeeded, she was now controlling her breathing and able to master her fear, instead of letting it rule over her. The lesson learned on that day by Alexa fresh in her mind, as if she had lived it herself. She could still feel her father's...Seven jerked her head sharply, Alexa's fathers hands on her shoulders. Then she realized that she was feeling hands upon her shoulders, Five of Ten had reached up and gripped them, and was still gripping them.

Upon Seven of Nine's realization, Five of Ten's hold, softened, became less commanding and more reassuring. The drone continued holding her shoulders for 5.4 seconds longer, then released them and instead rested her right hand lightly on Seven's chest and wrapped the other arm round her waist and back. She is regaining her individuality, Seven of Nine realized abruptly.

She knew that she should order the drone to ignore all irrelevant data, to process only maintenance and survival protocols, but she could not see any long-term benefit in doing so. Without the voice of the Collective, Five of Ten would regain her individuality, the only variable was when, and Seven of Nine was certain she could not delay that moment long enough for a Borg ship to arrive from Sector 256. The longest she might be able to delay it, she quickly estimated, would be 48 hours, not the months she estimated the Borg would need to retrieve them. Resting her chin lightly on the top of Five of Ten's skull, the only order she gave was for the drone to attempt to sleep. Besides, Five of Ten's physical touch was a reminder that she was not alone, tentatively Seven of Nine placed her right arm around the drone's body, mirroring as closely as she could the same placement.

Six hours later, Five of Ten regained her individuality, Seven of Nine observed her uneasily, uncertain what would happen now. The female human had become angry and violent when she realized she was to be assimilated, Seven of Nine had no idea how she would react now.

Alexa felt as if she were waking from a drugged half-sleeping state, she remembered everything that had happened since her assimilation, only now it seemed much more immediate and real than it had when it occurred. She remembered helping Seven of Nine move the equipment, the hurried walling off of their refuge, the hypothermia and Seven's actions to save her life. The plans they had made to fully assimilate her so she could regenerate and not be dependent on the emergency rations. The destruction of Unimatrix 01 and Seven of Nine's pain and terror at the loss, the terrible countdown to the destruction of Borg Prime.

The extent and tragedy of the destruction was incalculable, not only the deaths of 5.2 trillion Borg, but Borg Prime had been the sole repository for all of the knowledge, both that classified as relevant and irrelevant to the Borg, of the 10,000 species the Borg had assimilated. Perhaps only 25 percent of it, that deemed most relevant, was duplicated elsewhere in the Collective. The loss of that knowledge was almost too much to comprehend, it meant that the details of those species existence, the accomplishments which had drawn the attention of the Collective to them, were now truly lost.

A flare of distress from Seven of Nine brought Alexa back to awareness of where she was, and the fact that she was currently completely nude and pressed up against the armored body of the female drone she had admired in the cargo bay forty five hours ago. Her face was nestled underneath the female drone's chin, one arm wrapped around Seven of Nine's body, and one of Seven's arms wrapped around her. She could feel and hear Seven's uncertainty at Alexa's regaining her individuality, Seven's anguish at the reminder of the loss of Unimatrix 01, the loss of Borg Prime, and the almost overwhelming feeling of loneliness the female drone was experiencing because of the silencing of the Collective's voice in her mind.

More information was recalled, the loss of the subspace communications network, silencing the voice of the Borg in her mind, and allowing her repressed individuality to resurface; and coincidentally making the two of them their own little Collective, joined by their neural transceivers and the local subspace node. She had never been fully assimilated, Alexa realized with surprise, with no Borg ship available the assimilation process had not been completed, her individuality had been suppressed and her mind controlled by the Collective, but both body and mind were essentially intact and unchanged.

Alexa turned her mental attention to Seven of Nine, and found to her surprise that the female drone was afraid of her, that she would get angry and violent with the drone for her assimilation. Alexa didn't even have to consider the matter for long. She hadn't been a drone for an extended period of time, but she understood only too clearly how little, Alexa paused and scoffed at herself, she had not even had a little control over her actions, she had no control over her actions, and no ability to even consider whether they were wrong or right or whether she would follow them or not. Though she certainly wasn't happy about being assimilated, she had no justification for being angry with Seven of Nine or the late Two of Ten. She was under no illusions that she wouldn't have done the exact same thing if she had been in either of their places.

The Pegasian felt Seven of Nine's relief at her decision, and then the drone's uneasiness at the emotion. '_What's wrong with feeling relieved that I'm not going to get mad at you?_' Alexa inquired silently, tilting her head so she could look into the drone's shadowed face, the one blue-grey eye, and the massive, heavy looking optical assembly that covered the other. She's human, Alexa realized with surprise.

'_Yes,_' Seven of Nine responded to the last thought first, then she answered Alexa's question, '_Emotions are irrelevant, they interfere with efficiency._'

Alexa might have been put off by the silent comment if she hadn't felt the emotions behind it. Seven of Nine was afraid, afraid of these emotions, afraid of becoming an individual, afraid of the unknown. '_How long have you been a Borg?_' asked Alexa as she realized exactly how many things Seven of Nine was finding unfamiliar, new, and strange, things that Alexa didn't even consider anymore, like having emotions, or even more basic, being alone within her mind.

'_I was assimilated eighteen years ago,_' the Borg drone answered, and a fleeting image of a blond child watching her mother and father as they worked over a console, passed through her mind.

'_As a child,_' Alexa realized with surprise, no wonder Seven of Nine was finding this so difficult, she realized. Curious, she mentally asked for permission to explore Seven's memories, her life as a drone.

With puzzlement as to why permission was even needed, Seven of Nine, immediately showed her how to access them and patiently waited while she did so. Alexa immediately flinched away from Seven's earliest clear memories, when she had stepped from the maturation chamber and undergone the amputation of her left arm, and the removal of her right eye, deeply unsettled by the images and by Seven's lack of a reaction to the procedure even as she underwent it.

Likewise, after experiencing a few memories of assimilations she avoided them as well. Anguished not only for those being assimilated, but for Seven of Nine as well, and how the Borg had rendered her unable to empathize or even understand why assimilation was wrong. And it wasn't as if she didn't understand the Borg's point of view, having been one for a few days. Those who were assimilated were joining something larger than they could ever be as an individual. They were leaving behind their strife filled and contentiousness existence and joining a harmonious mass consciousness where every Borg strived for the good of the whole and for the perfection of the Collective.

Until she regained her individuality, it was how she had viewed her own assimilation, she had not resented it, had not regretted the loss of her former life, but it was a forced conversion, one coerced by the assimilation nanoprobes, and maintained and enforced by the will of the Collective.

Something jiggled in her memory, called for her attention, resonated demandingly with her current thoughts; there was something about the critical data that Borg Prime had sent to Unimatrix 256. '_Seven,_' she unhesitatingly asked for the drone's assistance as she asked for the information from Seven's cortical node as hers was too basic to store that type of information. Seven, of course, had not stored all of the data, that would have been impossible, but she had retained enough of her impressions of its content for Alexa to realize what was bothering her about it.

'_It is the specifications for a …_' Seven of Nine's mental analysis trailed off as she too realized the implications of the data.

'_So much for a Collective will,_' remarked Alexa, chilled, '_It's the specifications for a device to ensure that the Collective's consciousness never deviates from approved ideas and thoughts._'

'_More specifically, it ensures that the Collective never questions its goal, the assimilation of all technology and species to attain perfection, or question what perfection is, or how attaining the Collectives goal will ensure it,_' Seven's mental voice had a quiet, frightened, lost tone. '_I was not able to realize what it meant even as I was storing my analysis of it._'

'_Not until the communications network was destroyed and the influence of the Collectives consciousness…._' Alexa trailed off realizing something, '_No the influence of Borg Prime was ended._'

'_Yes,_' Seven of Nine concurred after a moment's analysis.

"Seven?" Alexa said aloud in concern. Seven's mind was a mass of confusion, the revelation of the device used to control the Collective's consciousness and prevent it from questioning it's actions cast into question everything that she thought was true, everything that she had believed in. Leaving her floundering, adrift, foundationless, if the Collective was not working toward perfection then what was it doing and why, and was there any meaning at all to being Borg, or was it just mindless obedience to an meaningless task.

"Seven!" she repeated sharply, pulling back from the drones armored body and reaching up and taking Seven of Nine's face in her hands and forcing her to meet her gaze. "Your more than just Borg you know, you're human as well."

"I do not know what that is," Seven of Nine replied aloud, her tone anguished, "I do not recall being human."

Alexa was stymied for a moment, "Then I'll just have to teach you," she resolved. Seven of Nine stared at her, Alexa, with the neural interface linking them, could not help but be aware of the fact that Seven of Nine did not know if she wanted to be human instead of Borg. The revelation of the device had upset her, shaken her faith in the superiority of the Borg severely. However, she wasn't quite ready yet to turn her back on the only way of life that she knew for one unknown, and until this time, one that Seven had not hesitated to classify as small, individual, not harmonious, and lacking greatness when compared to the Borg.

'_Why?_' Seven of Nine asked silently, plaintively.

"I don't know," Alexa answered. She considered the full question, why had the Borg used such a device? "The Borg have existed for a long time, thousands of years," she continued thinking aloud, "Maybe the original Borg just didn't want to risk future drones changing their minds about the purpose of the Collective. So they came up with a way to make sure that they couldn't."

Seven of Nine considered her theory, and agreed with it, it was a reasonable supposition.

"Seven, you're going to have to decide whether or not its possible," Alexa hesitated, grimaced, aware that for all they knew Species 8472 was still pursuing the Borg, and it was quite possible the Collective had been completely destroyed, "Whether or not it's possible to reach perfection by acquiring everyone's biological and technological distinctiveness."

'_You do not believe it is,_' Seven of Nine stated silently, aware of her thoughts.

Alexa sighed, "First we would have to decide what perfection is, and I don't have a good definition for it, its different things to different people," she complained.

'_Perfection is...,_' Seven of Nine paused realizing that she was about to make a circular self-justifying statement.

"Perfection is obtaining all biological and technological distinctiveness to attain perfection," Alexa finished for her aloud. She could see the frown on Seven's face, and feel it in her thoughts. "That's not what I would call a good definition." She could tell from Seven of Nine's thoughts that she agreed, but Seven did not immediately respond, and Alexa listened for a moment to the Borg's thoughts as she considered the question of just what perfection might be.

Inevitably, she found herself drifting away from the question occupying Seven of Nine's complete attention, to their current circumstances, marooned on a Class L Moon with minimal supplies. She knew as well as Seven of Nine did that the Borg were not likely to retrieve them anytime soon, something she was rather grateful for, though she knew Seven of Nine was definitely not.

Though she didn't want to interrupt Seven, she did wonder if the Borg had been aware that Commander Chakotay had been planning to transport them to a planetoid for the Borg to pick up.

'_Yes,_' replied Seven of Nine, and quickly shared her memories of the events leading up to the point of Alexa's assimilation.

"Oh boy, Janeway was probably angrier than a wet muraka at him when she recovered," Alexa commented wide-eyed, thinking of how the Captain was known for not liking having her orders questioned, and the First Officer had gone directly against them. The Captain kept it under control, but everyone knew she had a temper to go with her red hair. Mentally she started counting the days and wondering when the Captain had recovered, trying to estimate when Voyager would be back to search for them.

'_You believe they will return for you?_' Seven of Nine asked.

"Oh, definitely, if they possibly can," Alexa replied thinking of the bioship attack that occurred right after they had been transported down. If Voyager was intact, and Janeway was in command again, they would be back for them, she was certain of it. "They will be back to look for everyone."


	6. Chapter 5

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 5**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History:

Summary: Maybe being human has some good points after all.

* * *

Stardate 51010.1 (Fri, 04 Jan 2374 16:30 GMT)

After the brief discussion about Voyager, and Alexa's assertion that Captain Janeway would attempt to come back and search for them the two fell silent, Seven with her thoughts, and Alexa with hers. Ever since she had regained her sense of herself as an individual, Alexa had been peripherally aware that she was nude, and pressed against the warm figure of Seven of Nine, and armor not withstanding, Seven's figure was inarguably a very feminine one. Earlier, that fact had been overshadowed by the nature and intensity of their conversation. At the moment though, as Seven's attention was occupied with her own thoughts, Alexa had time to dwell on her nudity and other like matters. Such as the fact that she was completely bald, Alexa thought, feeling the cold air directly on the bare skin of her scalp. Or the fact that she was now an unflattering shade of gray, she noticed as she looked at her hand resting on Seven's shoulder, the paleness of it, and the darker coloration of the veins from the nanoprobes in her bloodstream.

Through their neural transceivers, Seven of Nine asked curiously, 'Why does your state of dress matter?'

Before she could censor the thought, not that any attempt would have done her any good with the transceiver faithfully sharing all with the other woman, her mind went to the moment she had first seen the drone in the cargo bay, and found her attractive despite all the Borg hardware on her body.

"You wish to engage in non-reproductive copulation with me?" Seven of Nine, could not miss the mixed response, both positive to the idea and negative to the phrasing. After a moment of examining Alexa's reasoning she filed away the irrationally negative response to the term and restated, "You wish to have sex with me."

Alexa's jaw dropped, but her body ignored her disbelief, responding to those words in an unmistakable manner. Alexa had always preferred strong, decisive, yet gentle and protective women. It was one of the reasons she kept away from Captain Janeway, she was entirely too old at 20 Pegasian years (30 Earth years) to develop feelings for a straight woman who also happened to be her commanding officer. That preference was why she was finding Seven of Nine so attractive; she had a feeling that the Borg would be one of those strong, decisive, gentle protective women, given time. For Alexa that knowledge of what Seven of Nine could be completely trumped the fact that she was wearing body armor, had implants, and pale gray was not a flattering color on anyone.

"Curious," Seven of Nine noted, "the two terms define the same action, yet you responded negatively and positively to one and only positively to the other." Before Alexa could order her thoughts to answer, Seven had already begun searching, sending her mentally scrambling after the Borg, who was in the process of curiously rifling through her memories, specific memories, memories of her past sexual experiences.

"Seven of Nine, stop," Alexa asked, not yet really annoyed, as she could tell that Seven of Nine had no intent other than satisfying her curiosity about a topic that, until now, had been forbidden to her, as the Borg deemed it irrelevant. Plus, the Borg had no concept of privacy, how could you in a communal mind. "Seven, stop!" she repeated more firmly, thinking there was no time like the present to introduce the concept of asking permission, and a basic respect for what were definitely her private memories.

The Borg paused, "My designation is Seven of Nine," was her first response, though Alexa knew that the mental tone she had used, and her objection to Seven's actions, had made an impression on the drone.

"Do you mind me using Seven?" Alexa asked aloud.

"No," Seven of Nine replied after a moment's consideration. Mentally they stared at one another, Seven quietly absorbing the reasons behind Alexa's objection to her actions. "There is no privacy in the Collective," she defended herself.

"And I understand that," Alexa answered, "I'm trying to get you to be polite and ask."

"Politeness is irrelevant," Seven replied stubbornly.

Any self-respecting Pegasian could expound at great length upon this topic, and Alexa was not an exception. "Politeness, civility, etiquette, whichever term you use you are referring to behaviors by which we show an attitude of respect toward one another. Without that it is impossible to have a stable, cooperative society, some form of inter-personal and inter-group aggression mitigation is needed." Alexa looked up into Seven of Nine's face, watching the Borg's expression as she considered the information. She could tell Seven wanted to go searching her memories for more information, but was reluctant after Alexa's previous negative reaction. "You may," she gave Seven permission, and mentally stepped out of the Borg's way.

Somewhat warily, Seven of Nine proceeded; rifling thought her memories of classes on social theory, Pegasian etiquette, and the etiquette of different Earth cultures and Federation species. Pegasians held that a certain level of aggression was normal and desirable in humans, but it meant that a method of diffusing this natural aggression was required in order for humans to form stable social groups. Pegasians taught that respect, the basic regard for the rights of others, was method humans used to diffuse that natural aggression so they could cooperate with one another. The way one showed respect, was of course, by the usage of etiquette, or social manners.

Once Alexa felt Seven was finished, she restated for her, "Politeness is irrelevant to the Borg, but it is not irrelevant to other species, or between us."

"Agreed," Seven tersely responded after a few moments

Alexa couldn't help but sense the sullen resentment behind the response; Seven felt that the Pegasian was pushing her into adopting more human behaviors. Alexa was sympathetic; she understood that what she was asking of Seven was not as simple as it would be from almost anyone else, most humanoid societies had somewhat similar cultures, but Seven had essentially been raised in a completely alien one. Alexa couldn't think of a single other group, not even the Betazoids, who shared all their thoughts all the time. Not to mention the fact that the lack of emotion within the Collective rendered the primary reason for civility, the expression of respect for others thoughts and feelings, well...irrelevant.

Alexa's mental acknowledgement of how difficult this was for the Borg was enough to lessen Seven's resentment. "May I explore your memories for information about human sexual activities," she asked.

The Pegasian couldn't stall for time by asking why because she knew why Seven was interested. The memory of her own thoughts when she had first swept her eyes up the drone's long legged femininely curved figure was still prominent in her mind. As was her current awareness of her state of undress, and the way she was pressed against Seven's form. She knew that these things were the reasons behind Seven's curiosity.

Silently, forgetting in her puzzlement to ask aloud, Seven asked, 'Why are you conflicted about allowing me to access those memories?'

Alexa sighed, and responded in the same manner, 'It's a very personal, private thing Seven, or at least it should be,' she replied. Alexa was not ashamed of her past, she had been no more or less sexually active in her younger days than any other Pegasian, but when she got to the Academy she found out that Pegasian attitudes towards sex and relationships were very different from the attitudes of humans raised on Earth.

Pegasians regarded any type of relationship between two people more seriously in general than humans from Earth. The Pegasus culture had different expectations, due to its emphasis on social harmony, on how relationships from casual encounters to long term love affairs were handled by both parties, both during, and most especially after the relationship was ended. Shunning was a common and widely used method of enforcing social norms on Pegasus, and one could find oneself on the receiving end of it for not behaving in a civilized manner, no matter how casual or how serious the relationship.

Yet, oddly enough, given those stricter social expectations, Pegasians were on the whole much more sexually active than humans from Earth. The discovery of how differently Pegasian humans and Earth humans regarded sexual encounters, and the woman who had taught her that fact, had hurt her rather badly. Involuntarily, her mind went back to that day at Starfleet Academy when she had walked up behind the woman she had shared a bed with the night before, and realized that she was regaling her friends with rather intimate details of their time together, details that were definitely inappropriate for her to be sharing.

"Nicole?" Alexa asked shocked and hurt.

The russet haired young woman swung around, and looked embarrassed for a moment. Then jutting her chin out, she remarked with false bravo, "What Alexa?"

Alexa had stared at her, and her friends who had the grace to look sheepishly away. "You shouldn't be speaking of this, even to your friends," she had commented bewildered.

"Why? You're a Pegasian, everyone knows you don't have any issues about sex, I was just letting my friend know you were as good a lover as Pegasians are reputed to be." Nicole responded, going on the offensive.

Alexa looked at Nicole incredulously, hiding the hurt and the betrayal she felt at the woman's behavior, given what they had shared the night before. She also didn't understand why Nicole was making these comments about her and Pegasian's in general. It was obvious to her, that Nicole's current attitude was due to her embarrassment over being confronted before her friends. But her behavior was completely unacceptable, at least by Pegasian standards, and Alexa could not let it go without comment. "If you believe that then you do not understand anything about my culture, or me, goodbye."

Alexa had turned on her heel and left, but she had paid closer attention to the gossip afterward and realized what Nicole had been talking about. Pegasians had reputations as thoughtful and considerate lovers, and as being rather promiscuous, since she was Pegasian people assumed she was both of those things. Alexa didn't know whether to be more offended or amused at the assumptions, but she now knew why Nicole, and others, had been so interested in sleeping with her, to find out if the reputation, especially as excellent lovers, was deserved. The entire situation had made her much more cautious about whom she accepted advances from, and many women had been surprised, some had even been offended, when she turned them down.

"She damaged you," Seven of Nine stated, a hint of anger coloring the comment, close upon its heels was the Borg's confusion at her own experiencing of the emotion. Not so much at what the emotion was, Alexa had identified it as such from Seven's tone, and Seven had picked up that information through the neural link, so the Borg understood what the emotion was, but that she would respond so with out any conscious decision upon her part on Alexa's behalf.

"Yes she did," Alexa agreed, noting Seven's response to the emotion, and tightening her arm around the Borg's waist in quiet support. She had not intended for Seven to find out about that incident, but she had been the one who had gotten caught up in the memory, making impossible for Seven not to have experienced it with her. "Sex is a private thing between two people, what happened, and how your partner reacted, is not an acceptable topic of conversation except with that lover. Though I have had many partners, I never have, or would think of making love as a casual activity."

She paused ordering her thoughts, "It is not, one has certain responsibilities as a lover, and making sure your partner is as pleased as you are is just one of them, such relationships are part of a person's social network. There are different social obligations depending on whether or not both people were friends before or no, and what their agreed expectations were before they made love, whether acknowledged as a casual encounter and likely to not be repeated, or whether the two people are seeking to start a relationship or deepen an existing one. For example in Pegasian culture, it is acceptable for close friends to have been lovers at least once; it is a customary way of deepening the emotional connection between them," Alexa explained, "Sex is not used that way by Earth humans, or at least if it is, it is not openly acknowledged."

Seven was confused, she had just received a plethora of information from Alexa, "The nature and purpose of non-reproductive sexual interactions is much more complex than I had believed," she noted.

"Yes," Alexa agreed, "And made more complex by the fact that each culture has its own rules about what's acceptable and what isn't acceptable. And my cultural values are why I'm having problems with the idea of sharing my experiences with you, those are private experiences, not to be talked about or shared with anyone else but that partner." She could feel Seven's disappointment at the answer, even though the Borg did not challenge it. "Maybe I could show you what I know of Earth's cultural attitudes vice Pegasian cultural attitudes," she offered, trying to come up with something she could share with Seven.

"Acceptable," Seven agreed.

Pausing a moment to order her thoughts Alexa began contrasting and comparing what she had learned of Earths culture since joining Starfleet, with her own Pegasian culture. Pegasus had been settled 240 Earth years ago, and its culture had noticeably evolved and changed from its parent planet in that time, mostly due to the emphasis Pegasians placed upon social bonds. The difference in attitudes towards sex and relationships was simply a natural outgrowth of this evolution in culture between the two planet's populations.

Seven concentrated intently upon the thoughts and memories flowing through Alexa's mind. The information Alexa was sharing with her would greatly assist her adaptation should Voyager indeed return for them, for Alexa was not only discussing the differences in attitude toward sex and relationships, but basic information about the differences Alexa had noticed in everyday interactions.

Alexa's confidence that Captain Janeway would return and find them had been unsettling. Seven knew the chances of the Collective being able to retrieve them were extremely low, and she did not want to remain stranded upon this moon, but the idea of asking Captain Janeway for permission to stay on the Federation ship was only slightly less distasteful than being stranded. If Voyager retrieved them she would have no choice but to adapt to being an individual, to learn what it meant to be a human instead of Borg, and even more intimidating, learn how to interact with other individuals, ones with which she did not share an subspace link.

Alexa had been discussing the different levels of relationships between humans when Seven made an unexpected discovery from the content of the Pegasian's thoughts. Humans engaged in non-reproductive sex, not only because it activated the humanoid pleasure center and caused a resulting release of opioids, which was the relevant information on non-reproductive copulation that the Borg had retained, but to minimize feelings of aloneness as well. Seven already knew from her own recent experience that physical closeness helped alleviate her feelings of being alone.

"Humans engage in sex because they feel alone," Seven interrupted Alexa.

The statement derailed Alexa's flow of thought; she had been discussing Pegasian views on sex and relationships. The distinction between casual sex, where there were not any particular expectations of an ongoing relationship, and sex between two people for the clearly stated purpose of deepening the emotional and social bonds between them.

"Well, yes," Alexa answered understanding why the topic of aloneness was so important to Seven. Not a moment went by that she was not aware of the nagging ache of loneliness emanating from the Borg due to the loss of the Collective's voice. "But sex is just a temporary way to lessen that feeling, it's really relationships that humans use to combat loneliness, they form bonds with other people. That's what I was just referring to, how Pegasians use sex to deepen emotional and social bonds, other cultures do as well they just won't state it as openly."

Alexa's voice trailed off as she became aware of the direction Seven's thoughts had just taken. Before Seven's curiosity about sex had been motivated by two things, Alexa's sexual awareness of her, and the fragmentary glimpses of she had gotten of Alexa memories that indicated that sex was rather more interesting than the clinical understanding she had of it as a Borg.

Alexa acknowledged, if somewhat ruefully, that her first time had been driven as much by curiosity as desire, it was just that she could feel almost no desire mixed in with the curiosity, and she was not interested in being a clinical experiment for Seven. Now though, given this new information, Seven was considering the idea from the point of view of forming a deeper connection between them, and Alexa realized just how much the thought of Voyager retrieving them, and the resulting changes she would have adapt to, frightened the Borg.

Alexa tightened the arm about the Borg's waist and back, hugging her tightly. "Seven, I wouldn't desert you just because we were back on the ship," she promised her, "Us being intimate isn't needed to assure that, and it would be wrong of me to even mildly insinuate that it was. It's coercive, distasteful, wrong and inappropriate."

Seven was confused by Alexa's growing agitation, "I do not believe that," she said aloud. Silently she added, 'Why are you not aware of my thoughts? That idea was not in my mind. I understand that that you will continue to assist me, I was interested in strengthening the bond between us as you indicated your culture accepts.' The Borg's mental tone was defensive.

"But I don't feel any strong need from you to touch me," Alexa responded with a soft sigh, "I don't mind that you're curious, I was too my first time. But I was more than just curious, I wanted her, my heart was pounding, I felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin if she didn't touch me, and my hands shook from how much I wanted to touch her."

Seven regarded her aghast.

The Pegasian started chuckling, "No, I wasn't ill, I was just feeling very strong desire and anticipation," she responded.

Feeling the Borg's continued uncertainty and doubt, Alexa looked into her face, considering the word she was beginning to associate with this woman, friend. Ever since she had regained her individuality the neural link had enabled her to hear Seven's thoughts and feelings. Yes, Seven was afraid, who wouldn't be faced with the extent of the change before the former Borg. Yet, she wasn't giving up, she was determined to face and overcome the challenge of learning how to be an individual. And the same things that attracted Alexa to Seven, that she was at her core a strong, determined and yet caring person, were also the characteristics that Alexa would look for in a friend.

Ignoring all the hardware wrapped around Seven's head, and concentrating on the one blue-grey eye, she looked into her new friend's--she emphasized her use of the word mentally to Seven--face fondly in the dim light cast by the heating unit,. "Seven you don't even know if you're interested in women or men. Chances are your going to be interested in men, most women are. If and only if, you can feel desire for me, would I ever consider making love to you, or you making love to me, anything else would be the wrong thing to do for both of us."

Alexa could feel Seven gauging her certainty and reluctantly accepting it, "Very well," Seven agreed, then curiously, "What is this type of desire you wish me to feel?" Alexa's mind brought up the definition but Seven interrupted before she could go any further, "No, I know the definition of desire, I wish to feel what it feels like from you."

Alexa understood what Seven was asking her, the neural link between them had been very informative for the Borg, allowing her to feel Alexa's emotions and understand them to a degree that simply knowing the definition and accompanying physiological reactions did not allow. Seven now knew what pride, and a few other emotions, felt like. Their texture, tenor, color and shape, and if she felt any of those emotions again, she would be able to recognize them, whereas before she might or might not have been able to identify what she was feeling. Now Seven wanted to know what the emotion Alexa wanted the Borg to feel for her, felt like.

"Desire?" Alexa repeated, staring up at Seven, knowing that the Borg had multiple reasons for asking. There was honest curiosity; Seven didn't understand what exactly what Alexa was wanting her to feel. Behind that though was determination, with the neural link there was no hiding the fact that the Borg saw her statement as a task that had to be completed before she could get the Pegasian to do what she wanted.

Seven's aggravation and bewilderment was obvious, even through the neural link, 'Why are you angry because I want to understand what you require before we engage in sex with one another? I know you want me to touch you, and I am willing and interested in doing so, what I do not understand are the obstacles you are creating to prevent that from occurring.'

Alexa stared at her momentarily speechless; it wasn't as if she could argue, thanks to the neural link, Seven was only too aware that she was correct. Why exactly was she fighting this, she asked herself. The answer was Seven's inexperience, inexperience in being and individual, in understanding emotions, in understanding the emotional impact that this decision should cause if Seven reacted like most humans.

Seven replied calmly, "Yes I do not have much experience in being an individual or having emotions, but I do not see why that makes me incapable of making this decision. As for the emotional impact, I believe I have a basic understanding of what may occur, indeed, that is part of the reason I am interested in having sex with you." The one blue-grey eye stared at her unflinchingly, backed by the resoluteness of her thoughts through the neural link, "I wish for us to become closer."

Sensing her capitulation, Seven moved the hand resting on Alexa's back, trailing it lightly down the Pegasian's spine, causing Alexa to shiver in reaction, and draw in a sudden breath. "Your reaction to my touch is greater than what it would otherwise be because of your desire," Seven stated a few seconds later, analyzing what had just occurred. Alexa was quiet, her attention focused on Seven's thoughts as the Borg processed the Pegasian's response and her own reaction to that response. When Alexa looked into Seven's eye again she noticed the pupil had dilated and there was an intensity to her gaze that hadn't been there before, "I wish to continue this activity."

Alexa swallowed, there was the desire she had wanted from Seven, clear in her gaze and thoughts. "Acceptable."

* * *

Seven frowned slightly, puzzled by the slowness and lethargy apparent through the link. Then she realized it had been around 22 hours since Alexa had last slept, that combined with the activity they had just engaged in, was the reason Pegasian was now exhausted. As Alexa curled up next to her, Seven rearranged the blankets they had thrown off earlier, cradled the Pegasian against her chest, and watched as the tired woman drifted quickly into a deep sleep.

The Borg marveled at how formerly inconsequential things, the feel of Alexa's head tucked under her chin, the hand resting against the armor covering her chest, the way Alexa's body inclined against hers, had acquired new meaning, and evoked different emotions, than the last time Alexa had slept next to her. New words, new thoughts, new feelings, Alexa was not merely lying in physical contact with her, she was nestled against her, and Seven was not just holding the Pegasian but cradling her.

The quality of her thoughts and feelings toward Alexa had changed just as the Pegasian predicted would happen, Seven realized.


	7. Chapter 6

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 6**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 03/18/06

Summary: Maybe being human isn't as bad as Seven thought, and how time flies when you're having fun.

* * *

Stardate 51010.9 (Fri, 04 Jan 2374 23:30 GMT)

Seven monitored Alexa's thoughts for a few minutes longer, fascinated with how the Pegasian seemed to not only physically want her near, but to mentally desire and need it as well. Though she was sleeping, Alexa's mind was vaguely aware of Seven's presence, their closeness, the way the Borg was holding her, and approved of it, found it soothing, reassuring, and trusted her to keep watch in this place which wasn't entirely secure while she slept so deeply. Not that Seven hadn't been alert for any signs that Species 8472 was still searching for them, but Alexa's thoughts had her being extra vigilant. Alexa's belief in Seven's ability to protect her roused still yet more new and unfamiliar emotions in the Borg, and a keen desire to prove that she was worthy of that trust.

Alert for any sound that might indicate the presence of someone or something else in their area, Seven began analyzing what had occurred earlier. From when she had first moved her hand down Alexa's back, to that intriguing moment when the Pegasian had relaxed beneath her. Seven didn't quite understand why that moment had caused the reaction it had, or was having now, she realized in surprise as she became conscious of the fact that her breathing had quickened once again merely over the memory of it. After a few seconds, Seven realized it was futile; she simply did not have enough knowledge to attempt an analysis, and no access to the needed information at the moment.

The last thought brought her mind back to the destruction of her Unimatrix and Borg Prime, the two places she was accustomed to querying for data. Though, had either of the two places been in existence, Seven belatedly realized, she would have no reason to make the query because the earlier interaction would never have taken place. Sex was irrelevant to the Borg. It left Seven in somewhat of a quandary, after experiencing sexual intimacy for herself she found that she could not agree with that assessment. She could not dismiss what had occurred between her and Alexa, the sensations, the emotions, as irrelevant.

Her previous unquestioning faith in the Borg, in their goal of perfection, that assimilation was not a terrible, evil act, but becoming part of a greater whole, had been irreconcilably broken by the revelation of the device that prevented the Collective from questioning its own goals and beliefs. Or from recognizing that there was no rational basis for believing that assimilating every species and technology into the Collective would lead to perfection. No matter why the device had been created, the truth was that the Borg were seeking a goal no more apparently based in reality than the various superstitions of the races they assimilated. The device brought everything she had formerly believed to be true into question, causing her to wonder if being part of the Collective was actually as desirable as she had previously thought, and as she had just realized that what they declared irrelevant was actually irrelevant.

Seven knew that Alexa did not want to be retrieved by the Borg, the Pegasian was happy being an individual, wanted to be one, and the idea of the Borg taking that away from her was something she found utterly repugnant. Alexa saw being a Borg drone as a lessening of herself. She did not see being a member of the Collective, being forced to assimilate other species, strip them of their individuality, their technology, so that the Borg could understand them, as something desirable at all.

Seven was no longer certain how she felt about the unlikely possibility of the Borg retrieving them. On the one hand she would no longer be concerned with any of this, re-assimilation would end the doubts she currently had, and ensure that she could have no further doubts about the Borg's purpose. On the other hand, the idea of being forced to forget what she had learned, forget that the Borg's path to perfection had absolutely no valid reasoning to support it, forget that it had been forced upon the current Collective by someone or someone's long dead, was rapidly becoming as repugnant an idea to her as it was to Alexa.

Not to mention that there would be no possibility of her and Alexa repeating their earlier interaction or exploring more of the varied emotions, feelings, and physical responses the woman awoke within her. Something that mattered strongly to her, Seven realized as she looked down at the woman sleeping in her arms, her gaze tracing over the intricate tattoo on her cheek. Alexa's sleeping thoughts were focused upon her, what had happened earlier, the pleasure and satisfaction Seven's touch had given her. Seven found that she liked how the Pegasian thought of her, and wanted to give Alexa reason to continue thinking of her in this manner.

Seven considered Alexa's confidence in Captain Janeway surviving both the injury she had suffered when the Cube was destroyed and the bioship that had undoubtedly attacked Voyager after they transported the drones to this moon, and bringing Voyager back for them. If Alexa's confidence was not misplaced, and thinking back to her interactions with Captain Janeway, Seven could understand why the Pegasian had such confidence in the woman, Voyager should be returning within the next few days depending on how far they traveled before realizing Alexa was no longer onboard. Seven occupied herself for a few minutes trying to determine what the most probable time window would be for Voyager's arrival before they should assume that Species 8472 had destroyed the ship, but she really had too little data to extrapolate that information. The best she could come up with was within the next few days, or never.

Inevitably, her mind came back to Alexa and the things she had learned from the woman about Pegasian culture, their beliefs about how societies and individuals worked, and their ideas about a person's place and obligations toward their society. Pegasian culture appealed to her, it made no claims to bring about perfection, only that when people made the effort to work harmoniously together great things could be achieved. What things were not defined, it depended on whatever a particular group agreed was a worthy goal, and in support of their pride in the human ability to accomplish great things when working together, the Pegasians pointed out humanities past achievements.

Humans had developed full sentience and the ability to speak during Earth's last major ice age, at a time when most species were becoming larger and developing thick coats, humans survived by becoming smarter, learning how to make and use fires for heating, and developing a spoken language to communicate with each other. From that point humanity took only 32,000 years to develop their first warp capable ship. One hundred and fifty years after Cochran's voyage, humanity was exploring the galaxy in their first warp five capable ship, the Enterprise; and now after only 32,500 years since they had first made stone weapons, they were one of the foremost races in the Federation. Thirty-two thousand five hundred years to catch up to species that had been sentient several hundred thousands of years before them, which was of course, one of the reason's they had caught the attention of the Borg; humans had advanced at an exceptionally rapid rate, and were surprisingly adaptable.

Seven recalled when she had informed Captain Janeway that her body ceased to be human eighteen years ago, perhaps she could learn how to be human once again, she mused tightening her arms around Alexa. The Pegasian made an appreciative murmur in response, and buried her face deeper into Seven's neck. The sound was very similar to one the Pegasian had made earlier, and reminded the Borg there was a great deal of information from their earlier interaction that she needed to analyze.

* * *

Stardate 51012.3 (Sat, 05 Jan 2374 11:30 GMT)

Alexa became conscious of a murmuring in her head, it disturbed her sleep, and as she woke she realized that the sound in her mind was Seven. The Borg was remembering a dark, wet planet, where she was huddled around a fire with three other drones, their sphere having crash-landed hours earlier. Her neural interface, and those of the other drones were damaged, all of them severed abruptly from the Collective, they had scavenged parts from one of the dead drones to repair the communications array and construct a beacon, now they were waiting for the Borg to retrieve them.

"I used to be afraid of the dark," Seven of Nine said in the memory as she looked into the murky darkness and listened to the strange and threatening sounding noises of the animals living in the swamp.

"Just before I was assimilated, I was eating with a group of men. We worked in numbers, mathematics, I calculated equations for another man," the older male drone remembered.

The other female drone exclaimed, "I have a name. It's Marika, Marika Willkara."

The other drones had continued in this manner, their words confusing Seven of Nine even more, until Three of Nine or Marika Willkara had looking with horror at what had happened to her body and exclaimed, "Oh, my God! Look at what they've done to me! These—these things they put in my body, what have they done?"

It was too much for Seven, as the group's adjunct she was the only one who could force them to obey what remained of their Borg conditioning, and at that moment operating more from fear than anything else, she chose to do so. "Command override, cease this interaction," the drones stared at her confused, "Comply!" she ordered.

Compelled by the changes the Borg had made to their minds they obeyed, and they had obeyed her subsequent directive when she ordered them to initiate maintenance and survival protocols and access no others. A few hours later the Borg retrieved them.

Now she doubted the correctness of that decision. She had not attempted it with Five of Ten, though she could have, knowing that it would eventually be a futile effort, but had allowed Alexa's individuality to return without trying to halt it. What would have happened had she not followed protocol, had she not used her command override and forced the other drones to ignore their memories of being individuals?

"Was there anyway off that planet?" Alexa asked sleepily as she stretched.

Seven, who had not realized the Pegasian was awake until she spoke, looked at her in surprise. She hesitated for a moment, considering the question, "No, the planet was not inhabited by any sentient race."

"So even if you hadn't the Borg would have still come and picked you up, they had already received the communications array signal by that point. Your decision made no difference, it would have ultimately ended the same either way," Alexa pointed out. "But, I am thankful that you didn't try to delay mine," she commented with a grin.

Seven considered Alexa's statement, finding no flaws in the logic. The Pegasian was correct, even had she not used her command override the result would have been the same, the Borg would have found and reassimilated them. Seven let out a breath feeling reassured by the knowledge.

Gazing at the still sleepy looking Pegasian, Seven's thoughts dwelled on what had happened between them earlier, and what would have not happened had she attempted to delay Alexa's returning individuality. "As am I," she replied, her voice a tone lower as she recalled the plans she had made earlier to explore more fully Alexa's responses to her touch.

Alexa's eyes widened, as she realized the direction Seven's thoughts had taken, caught flat-footed by the sudden shift from self-questioning to sensually analytical. Their gaze's met, Seven's intent, Alexa's surprised.

Seven had spent the past few hours considering not only the revelations and changes in her life, but what had happened between them, Alexa's response to her touch and her response to touching Alexa. Now that Alexa was awake, there were many things she wanted to understand better. She had noticed when they had sex earlier that Alexa responded differently to being touched by her unmodified hand and the hand that had been replaced by the Borg and was covered by an exoskeleton, and responded in yet another manner to being touched by her mouth or teeth. Seven had resolved to conduct a detailed analysis of these different responses when Alexa woke, and the Pegasian was awake now.

Alexa's breath caught in her throat, the thoughts coming through the neural link were rather explicit, and though Seven had planned a rather scientific exploration of her reactions, there was a very healthy amount of desire and arousal threaded through the Borg's curiosity. Desire and arousal that quickly spread to Alexa as she considered the slow, methodical, sensual exploration Seven had planned. Her mind reluctantly reminded her of her duty, she should start making contingency plans should Voyager fail to pick them up, and her body reminded her of how long it had been since certain needs were met and since she had bathed.

"I estimate that Voyager will retrieve us within the next 72 hours or we should assume that they were destroyed by Species 8472," Seven stated, responding to the first thought.

Alexa nodded reluctantly, Seven was correct. If Voyager had not picked them up within the next three days then the first step they needed to take was Seven completing her assimilation so they could both use the alcove. Then they could determine what, if anything, they could do about improving their situation here and perhaps eventually getting themselves off this moon. Right now, though, there were certain things that had to be taken care of before anything else, her body rather stridently reminded her.

Twenty minutes later Seven watched as Alexa, shivering in the cold air of the tent, washed using water warmed on the heating unit. The Pegasian was kneeling on the floor, her back toward the Borg, she had washed as Seven had watched, her gaze following the washcloth as it moved over the bare flesh. Alexa had initially been somewhat shy about her appearance, the grey tone to her olive skin, and grey lines of veins showing clearly, but Seven had only stared at Alexa puzzled, not understanding why the Pegasian thought she would find her appearance offensive, since it was no different from Seven's own.

Alexa held the washcloth over one shoulder; Seven reached out, took it, and gently ran it over Alexa's back. When she was done, she put the cloth aside and drew the Pegasian into her arms, trailing her lips delicately down the long neck and across one well muscled shoulder. Seven was becoming used to the myriad suggestions Alexa's mind offered, she had chosen this one because it intrigued her, it reminded her of that moment earlier when the Pegasian had relaxed beneath her. Alexa was only two inches shorter than she was, but in this position, with both of them kneeling, and oriented in the same direction but Seven more upright, the Borg was positioned so as to seem as if she were several inches taller.

'You really like this don't you,' Alexa asked through the link, referring to their current physical postures and mental attitudes, and identifying them as dominant and submissive.

Seven considered the two terms in their current context. She knew of course the common meanings of the words, but the Borg had obviously not deemed any information relating them to sexual practices relevant, for she had not known they could be applied to this type of situation. Seven had chosen this positioning because it was a dominant one, just as in their earlier interaction she had been the dominant, the controlling partner while Alexa had taken the submissive role. 'Yes, I like this,' Seven agreed.

Alexa shivered, the air in the tent was not freezing, but it was not what one would describe as warm either. Seven released her; it was too cold for the Pegasian to remain uncovered for any great length of time. After Alexa was safely covered by the emergency blankets once again, and in what had become their favorite positioning, Alexa on her back and Seven lying on her side next to her, Seven stared into the Pegasian's face quietly listening to the thoughts running through her mind.

"Seven," Alexa began haltingly, "Pegasians have some very strong views on what's permissible between two people and what isn't."

'I do not desire to hurt you,' Seven assured her, confused and disturbed by the thoughts in the Pegasian's mind. "Why would hurting someone bring them pleasure?" she asked bewildered.

Alexa sighed, "Seven, I can only give you the viewpoint I was raised with, and that viewpoint says anyone who wants to hurt someone like that, and anyone who wants to be hurt like that need therapy, that there's something mentally wrong with them. The masochist lacks the proper survival instincts and the will to protect themselves, and the sadist is seen as anti-social at best for encouraging masochistic behavior in others, and at worst a potentially violent criminal for their predatory behavior. Dominance and submission is one thing, but sadism and masochism…" she trailed off shaking her head. "Even dominance and submission aren't accepted if it pervades the whole relationship and not just the bedroom, because then the dominant partner is encouraging the submissive to ignore their survival instincts and their duty to be able to fend for themselves."

"And no I don't understand hurting someone you care about, but I do understand the dynamics of surrendering and being surrendered to," Alexa admitted.

Seven heard the ambivalence in the Pegasian's tone, felt her conflicted feelings and thoughts through their link. Alexa had gone to see a psychologist when she had realized how much she enjoyed being submissive, taught all her life to be independent, strong and self-controlled; she had immediately assumed it to be some flaw within her character. The therapist, after questioning her about the power dynamics of her relationships, had assured her it was nothing to be concerned about so long as she was not submissive to her partner outside of their sexual interactions, and she didn't begin to exhibit any masochistic tendencies.

Alexa's eyes met Seven's gaze after silently sharing that information through their link. Troubled Seven commented, "You did not reveal this information before."

"No, but it was what I wanted earlier," Alexa reassured her, "It's just that I didn't realize how much you would like being dominant…" she took in a breath. "And I didn't realize how much I would enjoy it either." She stared at Seven for a moment, "Or realize how much I would like for it to continue."

Seven's gaze intensified, her nostrils flared on an indrawn breath, "As do I," she agreed. The two stared at each other for a long moment, feeling through the neural link the rising anticipation and desire of the other. Seven looked away first, leaning briefly over Alexa to raise the temperature output of the heating unit. That task done, the Borg allowed her gaze to fall, to wander possessively over what she could see of Alexa's body, she met the brown eyes once again, "I want to touch you, to learn what arouses you the most. You will assist me in this."

Alexa was slightly amused at the phrasing, but that faded with the Borg's next movement, as Seven moved from beside to over her, and one armored leg slid gently, but inexorably between her thighs and pressed against her intimately. Soft full lips pressed and moved against Alexa's own, and then her lower lip was seized gently but firmly between white teeth. Bolts of pure arousal shot through Alexa and she gasped, the moment Seven had been waiting for, as she unhesitatingly claimed the Pegasian's mouth with her own.

Her mind operating rather sluggishly through her desire, Alexa both blessed and cursed their neural link, it gave Seven entirely too much of an advantage in this, able to read from her mind exactly what would excite her the most.

'Is that not the objective of this activity?' inquired Seven silently.

The Pegasian could detect the hint of amusement in the Borg's mental tone, and marveled at it. Seven's individuality, her emotions were progressing at a rapid pace. 'Yes,' she agreed.

Seven broke off the kiss, and knowing the attitude Alexa desired her to have at this particular moment the Borg commanded, "Teach me how to please you."

Three hours later, Alexa sat at Seven's feet as the Borg regenerated. They had taped the emergency blankets around the alcove to form a temporary shelter and moved the heating unit inside, otherwise Seven would have lost most of the benefit of the regeneration cycle as most of the energy would have been spent keeping her functioning in the cold.

If she listened intently, Alexa could hear Seven analyzing what had happened between them earlier. The Borg was not unconscious or unaware of what was happening around her, instead regeneration seemed to put her into almost a meditative state.

Alexa leaned her head against the metallic brown of Seven's armor colored thigh and smiled bemusedly. There had been several lovers in her past, but none had gotten to her as quickly as Seven had. It was not just the privileged information the link gave the Borg access to, it was Seven herself, the characteristics she had noted in the Borg earlier, the innate core of steel inside the woman, mixed with a gentle and caring nature.


	8. Chapter 7

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 7**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 04/30/06; 02/22/07

Summary: Species 8472 attacks and tragedy follows.

* * *

Stardate 51014.1 (Sun, 06 Jan 2374 03:30 GMT)

Seven came to full consciousness as soon as the regeneration cycle completed, however, she did not move, instead looking down at the sleeping woman leaning against her thigh. Regeneration had afforded her plenty of time to analyze what had occurred during the second time they had sex together. Now she had a term to apply to what she had felt during the first time, she liked dominating Alexa, or more accurately, she liked feeling Alexa submit to her. Staring down at Alexa, Seven had to admit that 'like' seemed too mild a term to use for her response.

Seven placed her hand carefully on Alexa's head and stroked gently, she did not want to wake the Pegasian, only touch her and feel her response to that touch through the link. It was such a simple thing, the pressure and mild friction of her skin moving over Alexa's as she touched her that it seemed unlikely that it would produce such feelings in the Pegasian, yet it did. The woman against her thigh sighed and murmured in her sleep, Seven's hand stilled, and a discontented frown crossed Alexa's face at the ceasing of the pleasant touch. Seven resumed the motion, unaware of how her expression gentled as she did so and of the slight upturn to her lips as she watched Alexa, though she was not unaware of the emotions she was feeling that caused either reaction.

Thinking back to earlier, the Borg was still confused by the conflict that had occurred within Alexa at whether or not she wanted Seven to continue increasing her arousal levels, and thus delaying her orgasm, or to proceed. Seven had chosen to continue increasing Alexa's level of arousal because it seemed logical that at some point the conflict would resolve itself, and there would be complete agreement to proceed onto the next stage of sexual activity. She had been correct, and indeed it had seemed to her that Alexa's resulting climax's had been more intense than the time before.

Then there was the time period after Alexa's orgasm, Seven had picked up the term afterglow from Alexa's mind for that moment. The Borg considered it an odd term, though it was indeed after the actual sexual activity had occurred, neither of them were glowing. The Borg frowned, disliking these inaccurate euphemisms, but she had no other term she knew to use. Alexa had called it a moment of perfection, though as she had said it both of them were aware that it was not entirely true. Mixed in with the Pegasian's feelings of contentment and happiness, was the awareness of how Seven's armor was not the most comfortable surface against bare skin.

Seven stared down at herself, she was used to her armor, the protection it gave her, the components within it that allowed her to function at a highly efficient level. Yet, it prevented Alexa from touching her as she was able to touch Alexa, and prevented her from holding the Pegasian as close as both of them desired. Alerted by the shift in Alexa's thoughts, Seven focused once again on the Pegasian's face watching as her eyes opened, revealing the warm brown of the iris's.

"You're done," Alexa struggled to stand in the close quarters until Seven reached down and helped her to her feet.

The Borg stared at her confused; Alexa was aware that her regeneration cycle had not been interrupted. Then she caught the emotion behind the words and realized that it was actually a statement of pleasure, not a request for verification. "Yes."

Alexa smiled at Seven, "No, I wasn't asking if you had finished," she lifted her face and pressed her lips against the Borg's. Seven wrapped one arm around her waist pulling her closer, and cupped the back of her head with the other and began kissing her back, and Alexa murmured appreciatively against her full lips. A few minutes later the Pegasian pulled away with a regretful sigh. "We really should do a few things today besides making love, and if you continue kissing me like that," Alexa shivered, "that's all we will do."

Another euphemism, Seven noted, then the actual words penetrated and she frowned in confusion, they had been making an emotion? The frown disappeared as through their link she felt Alexa's surprise and uncertainty at her own use of the term. Curiously, she asked, "What is the difference between sex and making love?"

After a moment of indecision, Alexa met her gaze, "The term, sex, doesn't necessarily imply a strong emotional response to the act of sexual intercourse. People quite often have sex simply because the physical act itself is pleasant. Making love implies there are strong emotions, both before, during and after sexual intercourse. It implies more of an emotional commitment between the two people involved."

Seven was aware that Alexa was not telling her the complete meaning of the term, but she ignored what had not been mentioned, instead asking, "Then the last time we had sex, we were not having sex but making love, or were we also making love?" not understanding whether the euphemism was exclusionary or inclusive.

"We were also making love," Alexa replied after a moment.

Inclusive then, thought Seven, as she stared thoughtfully at the Pegasian, trying to determine the source of her reluctance to mention what was so plainly in her thoughts. That making love was frequently used to refer to the act of sex when the two people involved felt the emotion called love for each other.

"We're reluctant to use the term 'in love' until more than a year has passed," Alexa answered the unspoken question, meaning Pegasians, not just she, were reluctant.

Seven recalled their earlier discussion, when they had discussed the differences in Pegasian and Earth relationships. "Pegasians believe time should be given for the first hormonal rush, which typically a year, to end. Only when they are sure their emotions will last into the second stage of love, the attachment stage, would most Pegasians discuss marriage," she quoted what Alexa had said from their earlier discussion.

"Or say that they were in love with one another. Unlike people from Earth, we don't like to claim we are in love during that first flush of passion. We are taught that the euphoria, the exhilaration, is all driven by the reward center in your brain, releasing chemicals into your body to ensure that you mate, and one shouldn't assume that the feelings will last after the hormones end. It's common for Pegasians to reserve the use of the term for the stage after that, once the attachment bond has been formed, that's being in love," Alexa clarified.

Seven considered her words for a moment, "Do you believe that biological process is occurring in one or both of us?" she asked curiously, wondering exactly what it felt like.

"I," Alexa started to answer and then paused for a long silent moment, then uncertainly answered, "I don't know." She looked at Seven for a long moment, "But I think it's too early to tell if either of us are starting to feel passionate about the other, I just know that I do have feelings for you, that I care about you." She reached up and stroked Seven's face gently with one hand.

Seven absorbed the reply, and Alexa's natural curiosity about Seven's own feelings. The Borg froze, when she thought about the Pegasian and what they had shared, she experienced multiple emotions. So many that they left her confused and unsettled, confused because she did not understand them, unsettled simply because she was unused to experiencing any emotions let alone so many at one time and so strongly.

"Seven," Alexa's voice pulled her out of her introspection, "Its alright, you don't need to answer that. I didn't mean to rush you into something you aren't ready for yet." The hand that had been stroking her face was now joined by its partner, and Alexa cupped Seven's jaw lightly in both hands, her gaze reassuring.

Slowly Seven nodded, her mind calming under the dual reassurance of Alexa's touch and through the neural link.

They stood like that for a moment longer before Alexa released Seven and looked around, "We should move back into the shelter."

Seven nodded, and they began removing the emergency blankets from around the alcove. Alexa had bundled the blankets underneath her arm and was hurrying across to the shelter, when the earth around them shook, knocking them both to the ground. Through the neural link they heard each other mentally identify the cause almost simultaneously, '_Weapon's fire._'

Alexa was getting to her feet when the second impact shook the cavern, Seven saw the large fragments falling from the cavern roof above the Pegasian but could do nothing to prevent them from striking Alexa except alerting her to the danger. The first rock slammed Alexa's protectively upraised arm, snapping the bones despite the protective reinforcements the nanoprobes had made to them. Alexa cried out in pain and instinctively brought the wounded arm to her chest, allowing the second rock, which she did not see, to strike her now unprotected head. The Pegasian fell limply to the floor, blood streaming from her head, and did not move.

Seven had been stunned by Alexa's pain when the first rock struck the Pegasian's arm, but when Alexa's mental voice went silent after the second rock struck her head the Borg cried out in alarm and lurched across the floor to cover the Pegasian's body with her own. Rock fragments continued to shower down around them as the attack continued, several striking Seven's body. One particularly large one struck the left side of her hip. Pain radiated out from the impact point and Seven cried out, but she did not move from her protective positioning over Alexa.

As suddenly as the attack began it ended, and silence fell, a few seconds later Alexa's communications badge activated, "Voyager to Lt. Nikoleon, Lt. answer."

Seven was able to identify the voice as Captain Janeway's, but she ignored it for the moment, instead using her adjunct protocols to interrogate Alexa's cortical node for information about her physical state. Sluggishly it responded, the reinforcements made to Alexa's bone structure, especially the titanium coating bonded to the skull during assimilation, had prevented the rock from crushing her head, but the force of the impact had torn some of the blood vessels in both the front and rear of the brain. The bleeding from the injury was creating a dangerous build up of pressure that would permanently damage the surrounding brain tissues if it was not stopped soon.

She gently touched near the bleeding cut on Alexa's head, noting that the Pegasian's nanoprobes were already healing the exterior damage. The skin was cold underneath her fingers from the chill of the cavern, and Seven knew her first task was to get Alexa into the shelter. Her nanoprobes didn't need to be fighting hypothermia in addition to trying to repair the damage to her brain and arm.

The communications hail repeated as Seven carefully moved Alexa's limp form into the shelter and covered her protectively with the blankets. Removing the badge from the Pegasian's uniform, Seven activated it as she exited the shelter, intent on retrieving the heating unit still next to the Borg alcove. "Captain Janeway, Alexa has been injured and requires immediate medical treatment."

Recognizing her voice, Janeway responded, "Seven of Nine." There was a short moment of silence then the Captain continued, "We are trying to scan your location to get a transporter lock, but something within the planet's surface is interfering with our sensors."

"The walls of the cave contain Fistrium ore deposits, it is reflecting them," Seven responded tersely as she re-entered the shelter with the heating unit and sealed the opening. "The primary entrance to this cave system is 234.7 meters 56.4 degrees from this location," the Borg informed Janeway as she checked on Alexa's condition once again.

Seven frowned, the nanoprobes had succeeded in repairing most of the minor tears in the blood vessels, but the worst injuries remained. Normally a drone this injured would be placed within their alcove to regenerate, the alcove would prioritize which injuries the nanoprobes should heal first, and continually supply energy to make sure the nanoprobes did not become critically drained while doing so.

In Alexa's case, this was not an option, and the result was that her nanoprobes were repairing the damaged tissue they detected in their immediate vicinity. As a result they were rapidly draining their limited energy supply on non-critical injuries. Alexa's nanoprobes had been getting their energy from the same source as her cells, from the food she ate, and had only recently been able to fully recharge after expending their energy in her assimilation. If Alexa's nanoprobes depleted their energy while randomly repairing the Pegasian's various minor injuries, it would be several hours before they could recharge enough to continue their repair efforts, and Alexa would undoubtedly die during that time. Seven's mind froze for a moment, unable to contemplate what her existence would be like without the Collective, and without Alexa to assist her adaptation to humanity.

Alexa must not die, the single thought rang clarion like in her mind, spurring her into action. First she would need to use the medical instruments from the survival kit to heal what injuries of Alexa's she could, such as her arm and the cut on her head. That would decrease the number of possible repairs the nanoprobes had to complete and hopefully cause them to concentrate on the torn blood vessels in her brain.

"Voyager to Seven of Nine," Alexa's communications badge activated once again.

Seven paused long enough to activate the channel, "Captain Janeway," she acknowledged as she pulled the survival kit closer and pulled out the dermal regenerator and bone knitter.

"The away team has located the cavern entrance but it collapsed during the attack, they estimate two to three hours before they can reach your location. What is Lt. Nikoleon's condition?" Janeway inquired tersely.

Seven stared down at Alexa's still unconscious form, in two hours the Pegasian would be dead or permanently brain damaged unless a way could be found to stop the bleeding and reduce the pressure on the surrounding tissues. "She has intracranial hemorrhaging in both the right parietal lobe and the left frontal lobe; her left radius and ulna are broken…" Seven continued listing Alexa's minor injures as she healed them. "I am repairing the minor injuries utilizing the medical instruments provided in the survival kit," she finished.

Seven hesitated for a moment, she could think of only one way to force Alexa's nanoprobes to concentrate on the ruptured blood vessels. She would have to directly connect to the Pegasian's cortical node and in effect take the place of an alcove in directing the nanoprobes and providing energy to them. "I will attempt to stop the intracranial bleeding and reduce the pressure on the surrounding tissues."

She closed the channel and proceeded to ignore Captain Janeway's repeated requests for further information. Beginning with Alexa's broken arm, she carefully set the bones in their proper orientation and used the bone knitter to repair them. That task completed, and all of Alexa's other minor cuts that she could detect repaired, Seven loosened the blankets about the Pegasian and laid down beside her, re-securing them about them both.

Pulling Alexa against her chest, she held the Pegasian tightly with her right arm and cradled her head gently in her left hand. Seven hesitated a moment before continuing, she had to accomplish this task successfully, she did not want Alexa to die or be permanently damaged. "I care about you as well Alexa," Seven stated to the unconscious woman just before extending her tubules and connecting to the Pegasian's cortical node.

* * *

Stardate 51014.6 (Sun, 06 Jan 2374 07:30 GMT)

Monitoring her tricorder closely, Captain Janeway stared skeptically at the rocks lit by the beam of her wristlight. The rock pile blocked what looked like a side passageway off the second large cavern. The obstruction didn't appear to be due to a cave-in, and from what tricorder readings she could get in spite of the fistrum deposits interference, there was no apparent damage to the cavern ceiling in this area or any weakness in the surrounding rock strata.

In fact, the pile of rocks looked suspiciously like they had been piled there from the inside specifically to block off this opening, and working backward from the directions the drone had given them 10 meters in this direction should be the location of Seven of Nine and Lt. Nikoleon. The two facts together lead her to suspect that the obstructed passageway was the correct one.

"Let's move these rocks," Captain Janeway ordered putting her tricorder into a pocket. She picked up a stone from the pile and tossed it aside, and the other members of the rescue team quickly followed suit. Five minutes later, she was able to shine her wrist light into the passageway on the other side, dark metal reflected it back dully and she was able to identify a Borg alcove. With relief she proclaimed, "This is it, let's clear enough for the Doctor to get through."

Knowing that they were close renewed the flagging energy of the rescuers, who had been cutting and shifting rock for over two hours now, and they picked up the pace of their movements.

"Doctor," Janeway called the EMH forward urgently after a few minutes of concentrated effort had cleared an opening at the top of the pile. "That's enough for you to get through," she referred to the size of the opening they had cleared.

The EMH looked at the opening and jerked his head in a brief nod, worried lines etched upon his face. The information the female drone had given them about Lt. Nikoleon's condition had been dire, and since then they had no further contact. "I'll contact you as soon as I evaluate her," he met the worried eyes of the Captain through the clear protective lens which were part of the survival suit she and the rest of the away team were wearing.

Janeway and the others, Lt. Ayala, Ensigns Vorik and Hickman, and Crewmens Dell, Henley, and Jarvis, watched as the Doctor disappeared through the opening they had made. "Alright, lets get the rest of this cleared, we're going to have to carry her out to get a transport lock," Janeway ordered after a moment, grabbing one of the stones as she spoke and handing it back to Crewman Dell. Peripherally, she noticed Ensign Hickman giving the opening one last anxious look before she went back to assisting Lt. Vorik with moving the stones. The two of them had volunteered for the rescue mission, and Janeway was aware that they were both friends of Lt. Nikoleon, hopefully the Doctor would contact them shortly with reassuring news.

Approximately five minutes later her communications badge activated, "EMH to Captain Janeway."

She paused for a moment making sure her command mask was firmly in place in case his news was not good. "Janeway here Doctor," she answered, ignoring for the moment the fact that everyone else had stopped working and was listening as well.

"Lt. Nikoleon's condition is stable, and her prognosis is good. From what I can tell the Borg female has interfaced directly with the Lieutenant's cortical node and is directing the nanoprobes in their repair efforts. The nanoprobes have already repaired the damaged blood vessels and stopped the intracranial bleeding. I believe they are now working on removing the excess blood to relieve the pressure on the surrounding tissues. Some neural damage has already occurred, but it appears that the Lieutenants cortical node has been altered to compensate for this while the nanoprobes are repairing the damaged tissues," the Doctor reported.

Janeway closed her eyes for a moment in relief; given the severity of Nikoleon's injuries she had been steeling herself for the news that the Lieutenant had not survived the wait and yet another person had died under her command. After a few moments the Doctor's other words sunk in and she opened her eyes and asked curiously, "Altered?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied, "but I'll need to move the Lieutenant to Sickbay to determine exactly how. The fistrum deposits are interfering with my tricorder." There was a slight pause before he continued, "Actually, I think we will have to move them both together, I don't think it's advisable to try and break the connection between them, at least not without understanding what exactly the Borg female is doing, and she isn't responding to me."

Looking at the size of the passageway they were clearing dubiously, Janeway responded, "I don't know that we can move two gurneys though here side by side but we will try."

The hologram responded absently, "Oh, I think we'll just need one."

Janeway's eyebrow rose at the comment, trying to imagine exactly how this would be possible, a gurney was usually just wide enough for one person, let alone two. "Alright Doctor," she didn't bother to argue the possibility until she could evaluate the situation for herself.

Ten minutes later.

Well, whatever she had been expecting to see it hadn't been this, Janeway decided after a moment's surprise at seeing the two women. It was almost…intimate the way the female drone was holding Lt. Nikoleon, the Captain finally decided, noting the way Seven of Nine had an arm wrapped around the officer and the manner in which the drone was holding the Lieutenant's head. Gone was the arrogant expression the female drone's face had worn for most of their interactions aboard the Borg cube, replaced by one of intent concentration. Gone as well was the bulky, protruding eyepiece, and the absence of it made the drone's humanness more apparent, even with the metal plates covering most of the Borg's skull Janeway decided, wondering distractedly why it had been removed. Now she understood the Doctor's comment, if they moved the two using the tent flooring beneath them they could easily fit the two women onto one gurney.

"What is she doing to Alexa?" Ensign Hickman exclaimed in a rising tone when she caught sight of the two figures, and hurried toward the prone forms of the two women.

"Don't touch them," snapped the Doctor before the Ensign could touch either of them, "She's saving the Lieutenants life."

Hickman froze, "What?" she asked in a disbelieving tone.

The EMH sighed, "The female drone is directly controlling the Lieutenants nanoprobes, from what I can tell she's prioritizing and ordering their tasks to ensure that their concentrating repairing on the most critical injuries. I suspect that on their own they would simply heal whatever injuries are closest to their location instead of focusing on specific ones."

"You don't know?" asked Hickman staring at her friend anxiously, then at the Borg female with deep suspicion.

"Not until I get them into Sickbay and away from these fistrum deposits," the Doctor responded in a disgruntled tone.

"Alright," Janeway spoke up, firmly taking control of the situation, "We need to get them up to the surface without disrupting the connection between them. If we use the tent flooring to lift them I think we can fit them onto one gurney."

As the rescue team once again began moving purposefully around her, Janeway stared at the Borg female her neutral expression hiding the confusion she felt. She hadn't been aware that the Collective went to such efforts to preserve the life of an individual drone.


	9. Chapter 8

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 8**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 05/24/06; 02/22/07

Summary: Seven and Alexa are transported to Voyager.

* * *

Stardate 51014.8 (Sun, 06 Jan 2374 09:30 GMT)

Janeway watched as the last pieces of salvageable Borg equipment dematerialized from the moon's desolate surface for Voyager's cargo bay. She knew Tuvok and Chakotay would have reservations, or outright objections she suspected in Chakotay's case, but she planned on offering Seven of Nine an alternative to returning to the Collective. If the Borg drone agreed to stay on Voyager they would need to reconnect at least one alcove for the drone to use.

A niggling inner voice asked, 'And if she doesn't want to stay?' Janeway grimaced; she was loathe to let the Borg have anyone, even in this case where that someone would be returning and willing. Hopefully Seven of Nine would accept her offer and she wouldn't have to consider an alternate course of action.

"Doctor to Captain Janeway," her combadge interrupted her thoughts.

"Yes Doctor?" Janeway straightened alertly, wondering if the EMH had an update on Lt. Nikoleon's condition.

"Captain, we're going to need a functioning alcove within the next hour or so. Now that Lt. Nikoleon and Seven of Nine are in Sickbay, and away from that moon, I was able to confirm that Seven of Nine is directing Lt. Nikoleon's nanoprobes. I also found out that she's supplying them with the energy they need to remain functional. The problem is that nanoprobes aren't designed to absorb energy in this manner. Their absorbing only 20 percent or so of the energy Seven of Nine is supplying, and she's depleting her energy reserves at a rapid rate. She's going to need to regenerate as soon as she disconnects from the Lieutenant."

Once again, the Captain found herself unsettled and surprised by the female drone's actions. The reports and information she had about the Borg were obviously lacking, for they gave no indication that the Collective would make this sort of effort to preserve the life of one of its drones. Or...

"Understood Doctor," Janeway belatedly replied. "I'll have engineering reconnect the operational alcove immediately."

Absently she contacted engineering and ordered Lt. Torres to make getting the alcove they had brought up from the cavern operational her primary concern. Her mind though was occupied with reviewing every word and every action the drone had taken. Seven of Nine had called the Lieutenant, Alexa. She had used the Pegasian's human name not a Borg designation, and the actions she had taken to preserve Lt. Nikoleon's life also seemed very un-Borgish.

The two facts taken together indicated to her that Seven of Nine was acting as an individual, not as a member of the Collective. Janeway wondered if she were correct, had Seven been severed from the Collective? And if so, how had it happened? Fistrum ore reflected scanning beams; they didn't interfere with communications, so that couldn't be the cause. Perhaps Species 8472 had destroyed the Borg's communications equipment? That possibility sounded more promising, and even likely. But how much would Species 8472 have had to destroy to disrupt Seven's connection with the Collective?

The Captain's expression grew grim as she considered the possibility that Species 8472 had actually succeeded in destroying the Borg. Her mind flinched away from dwelling upon the staggering number of deaths the defeat of the Borg would mean, the number would undoubtedly be in the billions. Yet, that destruction would mean that the end of the Borg threat to Earth, and many other planets and species as well. No, it was not the possibility of the Borg being destroyed that caused her grim expression; it was Species 8472's continued presence in the Delta Quadrant. If Species 8472 had defeated the Borg and still remained in this universe it might mean that they intended to carry out their threat to wipe out every species that might be a threat to them here.

* * *

Stardate 51015.1 (Sun, 06 Jan 2374 12:30 GMT)

She had succeeded. The torn blood vessels were repaired, the excess blood removed and reabsorbed into Alexa's circulatory system, and the neural tissues damaged by the pressure healed. Fine hollow filaments, remnants of Seven's efforts to bypass the pressure damaged neural tissue, now threaded throughout Alexa's brain. All connected and controlled by the Pegasian's now completed cortical node, they had allowed oxygenated blood and neural signals to flow to those areas where the pressure build up had cut off normal blood flow.

Seven of Nine ran through one final diagnostic check of Alexa's cortical node, reassuring herself that all was well with the Pegasian, then detached her tubules. As they retracted into their housing in her left hand she allowed her attention, which had been focused upon repairing the damage to Alexa to the exclusion of everything else, to widen. Voyager's EMH and Captain Janeway were discussing Alexa's condition.

"So you won't be able to remove her cortical node," Captain Janeway was speaking.

There was a moment's pause, "The risk of damaging her while attempting to remove it is too high. I'll work on the problem; perhaps I can devise some method which won't put the Lieutenant at risk." Then the same voice in an entirely different tone spoke, "Oh, I see the first of our sleeping beauties has awakened."

Seven did not understand why Voyagers EMH had used that phrase since neither she nor Alexa was sleeping, but she understood that he was referring to her. She opened her eye and focused upon the unconscious woman who rested in her arms. No sign remained of the wound where the rock had stuck Alexa's head, the skin was unblemished once again and the Pegasian's face was relaxed and peaceful.

Several different physical sensations and emotions, both pleasant and unpleasant, ran through Seven as she once again sensed Alexa's presence through her neural interface; saw the steady rise and fall of the Pegasian's chest. There had been several moments that Seven had thought that she would fail, that Alexa would die or be permanently damaged. Seeing Alexa breathe, being aware once again of her presence in the neural link after that frightening moment when the rock struck and Alexa's mental voice had went silent, made Seven acutely aware of how close the Pegasian had come to dying, and how relieved she was that she had succeeded in preventing that and repairing all the damage done.

"Seven of Nine," Captain Janeway's distinctive voice drew the Borg's attention; she looked over at the commanding auburn haired woman who she had first met as the Borg's liaison.

Seven's thoughts, led by her contemplation of how close Alexa had come to dying, had already been turning toward the yawning, silent chasm in her consciousness that used to be filled by the voice of the Collective. Captain Janeway's use of her Borg designation only finished that, leaving Seven achingly aware of the loss of her Unimatrix, of Borg Prime. Losses caused by Voyager's First Officer.

Before she could consider her words, or the emotion that prompted her to utter them, Seven replied harshly, "There is no of Nine, the other eight were destroyed fifty-six hours, twenty-three minutes, and thirty-seven seconds ago."

Seven saw the grey eyes go wide in shock or surprise, she didn't know which, and quickly returned her attention to Alexa's face. Her outburst surprised and unsettled her; she had not realized that she was angry until after the words were already spoken. She did not particularly want to look at Captain Janeway, did not want to have to try and discern what the woman's reaction was to her words, or the too evident emotion behind them.

A dark red and black uniform appeared on the other side of the bio-bed behind Alexa's head. "I'm sorry."

Seven's surprised gaze met the Captain's grey-eyed one searchingly, trying to understand the expression on the woman's face. Tentatively, combining her own knowledge with what she had learned from Alexa about this woman, Seven concluded that Captain Janeway was likely displaying compassion. "For what are you sorry?" she asked curiously.

"Your loss," Captain Janeway explained, her steady gaze never wavering.

Seven absorbed the answer, noting that the Captain had not said she was sorry for Commander Chakotay's actions, actions that had directly led to the destruction of Unimatrix 01 and Borg Prime. She would have been surprised and dubious had Captain Janeway claimed she regretted the destruction of the Borg. The Collective was feared, hated and respected, not admired or liked. Few, if any, species would feel sorrow for its destruction. This then was an acknowledgement of her emotions, the loneliness and anger she felt, and an attempt to mitigate any aggression she might feel.

To Seven's own surprise it did help, hearing Captain Janeway's apology, seeing the sympathetic expression on her face did lessen the pain and anger she was feeling. "Thank you," Seven finally replied, belatedly remembering the proper response from the discussion she had with Alexa. Once again, the grey eyes widened, and Seven wondered if she had erred somehow in her response, though she was certain it was the correct one.

"You're welcome," Janeway finally responded, then "Would you like some help getting up?"

Seven glanced at her uncertainly; she was not uncomfortable where she was even though the narrow bio beds were definitely not designed for more than one occupant, and she could not move without risking falling off. There was also the fact that she had depleted her own energy reserves to dangerously low levels and was not certain of her ability to remain standing for any substantial length of time. She would need to regenerate very soon; hopefully Captain Janeway would permit her to retrieve the alcove from the moons surface for her use.

"I'll assist as well," Voyager's EMH added helpfully, "I need to run some more tests on Lt. Nikoleon which I cannot with you two sharing a bed, and I'd like to check what looks like a recent injury to your pelvis."

The slightest indication that she was preventing Alexa from receiving medical care was all the impetus Seven needed. She allowed Captain Janeway and the EMH to assist her from the bio bed. Mustard yellow and black uniforms caught her eye and she glanced over toward them, recognizing Lt. Commander Tuvok and two other unfamiliar crewmen standing near the Sickbay doors watching her alertly.

She turned back to the EMH, dismissing the security detail as unimportant, "A section of the cavern ceiling fell upon me during the attack by Species 8472," Seven explained, remembering the ceiling fragment that she had prevented from striking Alexa.

The hologram nodded, "If you'll just get up that bio bed while I start the scans on the Lieutenant," the EMH indicated the empty bed next to the one Alexa rested upon. As soon as the hologram saw that she was complying he turned back to the controls on Alexa's bed and began entering commands.

Captain Janeway came and stood beside her, "What name would you prefer to go by now?"

Seven considered the request for a few moments. "Alexa has shortened my designation to Seven, that is acceptable."

"Alright," Janeway replied after a moment's silence. Her voice hesitant she asked, "By the other nine did you mean the other drones transported down to the moon with you?"

"No, those drones were assigned to the Cube that was destroyed protecting Voyager. That Cube was assigned to Unimatrix 12. The other eight of my subunit were destroyed when Unimatrix 01 was attacked and destroyed by Species 8472." Seven was surprised that the woman who had dared to negotiate with the Borg knew so little about the Collective. "Species 8742 then attacked Borg Prime and succeeded in destroying it."

The Captain's brow furrowed, "Borg Prime?"

"The home world of Species 01, and the primary data repository of the Borg," Seven explained in a toneless voice. She understood there were several reasons why Voyager's Captain would be interested in finding out about the activities of Species 8472 and the Borg, but with Alexa unconscious there was currently only the slightest murmur of sound through her neural link. As a result, this conversation was only reminding her of the symphony of though, and the presence of trillions, that she had known before.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the EMH coming over, "Now let me see how that injury of yours is doing." Seven obediently laid flat on the bio bed, watching as the hologram began scanning the injury site.

"Seven," Janeway's voice drew her attention back to the Captain, "What happened after Borg Prime was destroyed?"

"I do not know. Borg Prime linked all the Unimatrix subspace transmitters, when it was destroyed each Unimatrix's transmitter was isolated from the other's," Seven explained. Before Janeway could ask another question she continued, "There are no other drones currently within range of the Unimatrix 12 subspace transmitter besides Alexa and I."

Janeway looked thoughtful, "So the last contact you had with the Collective was fifty-one hours ago?"

"Fifty-two hours, eleven minutes, forty-seven seconds," Seven corrected her.

Janeway nodded, her brow furrowed and she tapped her lips with her index finger looking thoughtful. Seven watched her, noting the evident intelligence that had interested the Borg in this human. Grey eyes zeroed in on her, "Do you know the number and type of ships that Species 8472 used in their attack?"

Seven was expecting this question; it was a logical one for Voyager's Captain to ask. "One hundred forty-five bio-ships participated in the attack upon Unimatrix 01, of those the Borg succeeded in destroying twenty. The remaining bio-ships then moved to attack Borg Prime, and were joined by an additional thirty-four bio-ships. Of the one hundred fifty-nine bio-ships that attacked Borg Prime twenty-nine were destroyed by the Borg."

Even Seven could identify the grim expression that was now on the Captain's face. "So there are perhaps 130 bio-ships here now."

"Correct," Seven replied, wondering how many Borg vessels had survived to reach Sector 256 and whether or not the Borg would be safe from Species 8472 there.

The EMH straightened drawing both women's attention, "Well, even as tired as they are your nanoprobes have done an excellent job, there wasn't much left for me to do at all. And I believe it's time that you went and regenerated for several hours." He glanced over at the Captain inquiringly, "If the Captain is finished asking questions for now?"

Janeway nodded, "We can go over this later after you've rested."

Seven looked over at the other bio bed anxiously, "Alexa?"

"Lt. Nikoleon will be fine thanks to you. I'm just keeping her sedated for a few more hours to make sure everything is alright," the EMH assured her.

Janeway said, "We've set up your alcove in Cargo Bay 2, where it was before." Glancing at the EMH, she asked, "Doctor, should we transport or can she walk there?"

The EMH considered the question for a few seconds, "She can walk if she doesn't take too long getting there," he finally commented looking directly at the Captain.

Janeway raised an eyebrow, "I'll keep that in mind, Doctor."

She was familiar with Voyager's design, complete specifications of the vessel had been included with the information she was given in preparation for her duties as liaison. Still, as Captain Janeway commented upon the different operational areas, Seven looked around curiously. It was information she already knew, but she did not inform the Captain of that fact, preferring the redundant information to the likely possibility of more probing questions about the Borg.

Seven only peripherally noticed the reaction to her appearance of the first Voyager crewmember they passed; the second, however, drew her full attention. He was a black-haired Caucasian male and, by his mustard-yellow shouldered uniform, was assigned to either Voyager's Engineering department or Operations. When he looked up from the PADD he was carrying he halted abruptly, his eyes widened, and he backed hurriedly out of the way, flattening himself against the corridor wall in evident fear.

The reaction was not an unfamiliar one to Seven, she was used to most species reacting to the appearance of the Borg with fear and/or anger. In the past, as part of the Collective, emotions, hers or other people's had been irrelevant, now though, the crewman's reaction disturbed her. Alexa wanted her to join Voyager's crew, become part of this human community, but seeing how its members were reacted to her, she was uncertain if Voyager's community would allow her to join them.

"Seven," the Captain's voice, and more surprisingly her hand upon Seven's armored arm, drew the Borg's attention away from her bleak thoughts. "Give them time to realize you are no longer a threat to them or the ship, and they'll stop being afraid of you. Right now, they don't know anything about you other than you assimilated Lt. Nikoleon. They don't know you also saved her life." Janeway hesitated, "I don't know if the Lieutenant mentioned the possibility of you staying aboard Voyager?"

Seven replied, "Alexa wants me to join Voyager's crew, to learn how to be human. I am aware that your permission is required for me to stay." More hesitantly she continued, "However, I cannot estimate my possibility of success in that endeavor. I do not remember much of my life before I was assimilated."

They had arrived at Cargo Bay 2, and the Captain stopped short of where the doors would sense them and open. The corridor was deserted except for their group. Janeway turned and faced Seven, "I think you will find that the probability of success will depend on how much you want to become an individual. You don't have to learn how to be a human you already are one. You need to learn how to be an individual."

Her head tilted to the side, Seven considered Janeway's words. "Perhaps," Seven finally allowed in a low voice.

"Well," Captain Janeway smiled, "While you are deciding that, you are welcome to stay on Voyager and accompany us back to the Alpha Quadrant."

"Thank you, Captain Janeway," Seven replied.

The Captain nodded, and indicated the Cargo Bay doors, "I don't want to get a lecture from the Doctor for keeping you from regenerating."

* * *

"So, any objections?" Captain Janeway asked Tuvok as they made their way from the Cargo Bay after setting up the security watch on the regenerating drone.

Tuvok raised one eyebrow, "To letting Seven remain on Voyager?"

Janeway's answer was to merely smile at the Vulcan, they both knew exactly what she had been referring to and his use of the shortened name only confirmed it.

"No," Tuvok replied simply.

She nodded, "She's very different from the Borg drone we met on the Cube."

"Her circumstances have changed considerably," Tuvok noted.

Janeway frowned, "The destruction of the Unimatrix she was assigned to, and Borg Prime. I wish I knew more about the Borg, I don't know if there was anything significant about Unimatrix 01 other than it most likely being the sector where Borg Prime was located."

Tuvok nodded, "That is a logical deduction. Perhaps you should ask Seven when she is less emotionally disturbed by such topics."

"I'm concerned about Lt. Nikoleon as well; I can't really imagine what it was like to be linked to the Collective while experiencing the destruction of a planet," Janeway commented.

Thoughtfully, Tuvok replied, "That may be one cause of the concern Seven has for the Lieutenant."

"Shared experiences?" Janeway questioned, Tuvok inclined his head in a brief nod. "That makes sense."

Tuvok's steps slowed and he paused, a resolute expression on his face. Janeway stopped as well, looking at him questioningly. "Their neural transmitter links will have to be severed; otherwise there is the risk that they maybe rejoined to the Collective."

"I know," Janeway acknowledged readily, "But I don't think there's much risk of that occurring right now, and I'd prefer for Seven to come to that conclusion herself and offer." She grimaced, "I don't really want to traumatize her anymore than she is if it isn't necessary."

"And if the tactical situation changes?" he asked.

She replied, "I'll do what's necessary to protect this ship, but hopefully it won't come to that."


	10. Chapter 9

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 9**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially an AU story.

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 2/10/07

Summary: Alexa awakes, the Captain makes plans, and Alexa makes sure Seven gets quarters.

* * *

Stardate 51015.6 (Sun, 06 Jan 2374 16:30 GMT)

Alexa felt a surge of fear as she recovered consciousness; the last thing she remembered was the cavern shaking from an attack, and pieces of the ceiling falling. She had raised her arm to protect her head, a rock had struck her, there had been nauseating pain and she knew her arm was broken then nothing. Confused from the sedative, she wasn't certain where she was, or what was happening.

"Welcome back Lieutenant," the distinctive warm husky tones of the Captain pulled her further into the present.

With a gasp Alexa opened her eyes, immediately recognizing that she was in Voyager's sickbay. She reached out mentally, instinctively searching for Seven, needing to know where the other woman was, and if she was safe. Information flooded her mind: Seven's complete physical status, the time she had been regenerating, and the remaining time of this regeneration cycle. If she concentrated, she could hear what Seven was hearing, sense everything that was happening at this moment in Cargo Bay 2 where her friend was regenerating.

The sheer amount and level of detail of the information stunned her, something was very different, and it only took her another fraction of a second to realize what exactly was different. "My cortical node's been completed," Alexa exclaimed in disbelief. She closed her eyes knowing just what Seven had risked for her, "Oh, Seven," she breathed.

"Seven had to in order to save your life," the Captain's voice was regretful.

The Pegasian opened her eyes, and turned her head enough to meet the Captain's grey gaze, "It's not that, I understand why she had to Captain," Alexa clarified, dismayed at Captain Janeway's interpretation of her comment. "It's what she risked. If I had died with her connected directly to my cortical node it would have destabilized her own cortical node, killing her."

Janeway was silent for a long moment, absorbing this information, "Seven didn't mention that," she remarked quietly.

Alexa couldn't help but smile, "She wouldn't have, it was in the past and she succeeded, so the risks no longer had any relevance." She closed her eyes against the brightness of the sickbay lights, she was sore all over, her head hurt, she was weary and unreasonably frustrated that Seven wasn't here to answer her questions. What exactly had happened while she was unconscious? The thought seemed to be all Alexa's cortical node needed as an instruction.

The attack, the falling ceiling of the cavern, the rock that struck her arm and then the one that she did not see, the one that struck her in the head. The perspective was wrong, and Alexa realized these were Seven's memories, not hers: Seven lunging desperately across the cavern, covering the Pegasian before the large piece of ceiling fell, the one that would have crushed Alexa if not for Seven protecting her. Seven telling the Captain what had happened, of her injuries, the Borg's decision to attempt to save Alexa's life no matter what the risk, and Seven's last words before she connected to Alexa's cortical node.

'Thank you,' Alexa sent her earnest gratitude along the neural link. She didn't expect a reply as Seven was regenerating, but she knew the Borg was aware of the fact she was now conscious, and aware of her thoughts, especially those directed toward her.

"How are you feeling Lieutenant?" the Doctor inquired, coming into her field of vision as she opened her eyes.

Alexa took a mental inventory, "Sore all over, tired and a headache, but quite frankly I'm thankful I'm here," she finished.

The Doctor nodded, "You have Seven to thank for that, by the time we got to you the brain damage would have been irreversible."

Alexa snorted, replying grimly, "I need to thank her twice. I wasn't near her when the first pieces of the ceiling fell. She couldn't get to me before the one that stuck my head, but I would have been crushed by the last bolder that fell from the ceiling if she hadn't been protecting me with her own body." Belatedly she became aware of their startled silence, "I guess Seven didn't mention that either," the Pegasian quietly commented.

"I guess that's when she was injured," observed the Doctor.

It took Alexa a moment to realize what injury he was referring to, "Yes." She fell silent, there had been many times while they were together that she had wished Seven didn't have body armor. Yet without it Seven would not have survived the impact of the falling rock, the armor had saved both their lives.

"Lieutenant," the Captain's voice summoned her from her thoughts.

Focusing on the auburn haired woman, Alexa replied, "Yes, Captain?"

Janeway hesitated, her jaw tightened and she sighed, "I know you're tired Lieutenant, but I need to know what happened between the Borg and Species 8472."

Alexa stared at her uncertainly, before realizing that the Captain needed a briefing, "Of course Captain," Alexa tried to set up.

Janeway reached out and pressed her gently back against the biobed, "Don't try to sit up Lieutenant, let the Doctor raise the bed." The Captain looked expectantly at the Doctor, who sighed in disapproval, but promptly raised the back of the biobed.

Alexa began as soon as she was comfortable, thinking back to her memories immediately after being transported to the moon's surface, "I believe I was sedated for the first ten hours after my assimilation, I couldn't initiate any action, only respond to directives given to me." She went on to tell of the finding of the cave and the events following, the other drones being ordered to draw Species 8472 away from the cave, and how she and Seven had retreated further in and blocked off the passageway to their hiding place. The steps Seven had taken to prevent her from dying of hypothermia, and being ordered to assist the other Borg with determining how to complete her cortical node.

Solemnly she related the efforts of the Collective to defend itself, the steadily updating losses of ships and entire planets, the steadily approaching calculated point of no return. "When all the calculations agreed that the Borg could no longer defeat Species 8472 new directives were issued. All vessels within 40 lightyears of Unimatrix 01 were directed to new coordinates to participate in its defense. All other vessels were directed to retreat to Sector 256 and reassigned to Unimatrix 256." A warm hand squeezing her arm drew her attention, the Pegasian stopped speaking, realizing belatedly how caught up in her memories she had been.

"Do you need something to drink, Lieutenant," the Captain inquired, her concerned grey eyes examining her closely.

Alexa, realizing her throat was dry, replied, "Yes, thank you Captain, chamomile tea with honey please." Janeway waited until she had swallowed almost half of the tea before motioning for her to continue. "When the attack upon Unimatrix 01 began," she halted abruptly when the Captain made a stop motion with her hand.

"Seven mentioned Unimatrix 01, but what exactly is a Unimatrix, and is their any special significance to Unimatrix 01?" Janeway asked.

Accessing her cortical node brought Alexa a wealth of information, most of which she knew, was not the answer the Captain wanted at the moment. "Each sector has…" she paused a moment, then grimly corrected herself, "had a Unimatrix which directed and coordinated all Borg vessels and drones within that sector. Unimatrix 01, which was the Borg Queens Unimatix, coordinated the activities of the sector Unimatrix's, and of the Collective itself, but I believe Unimatrix 01 wasn't where the Collective's decisions were initially made, I think the Borg Queen just decided how they were carried out." Her voice trailed off as she remembered the moment when the voice of Borg Prime had controlled the Collective.

"Lieutenant," Janeway's smoky voice requested, "If the Borg Queen didn't make the decisions for the Borg, then who do you think did?"

Alexa met her gaze bleakly, "What, Captain, what did," She paused for a moment re-gathering her thoughts. "When Unimatrix 01 was destroyed, when the voice of the Queen fell silent, there was a moment of… panic in the Collective." She met the Captain's eyes, "then the voice of Borg Prime," she hesitated, remembering the moment, "reordered the Collective, took… absolute control of it. Borg Prime was not like the Queen, there was no inflection to its cadence, it was like Voyager's computer voice." She met the Captain's gaze directly, "I think a computer controlled the Borg." she finished.

Janeway recoiled from her words then stared at her consideringly. "Why do you think that," she asked finally.

"Because the last thing the Collective sent to Unimatrix 256 was the specifications for a data processing unit that could override any command Unimatrix 256 issued, and that would prevent the Borg from questioning whether or not perfection could actually be obtained by assimilating others, or even what the perfection they were seeking was." Alexa stated with equal parts of anger and sorrow, she closed her eyes feeling tears slip out of her control, frustration and futility filling her, and the overriding question of 'Why?' for both her own sake, and Seven's.

* * *

Stardate 51016.0 (Sun, 06 Jan 2374 20:30 GMT)

"Alexa?" William Chapman's concerned voice woke her.

The Pegasian opened her eyes; her four best friends were clustered about her biobed, staring at her with varying mixtures of concern and dismay. "Hey guys, it's good to see you."

"Why hasn't the Doctor taken those things out of you?" asked Marie, staring at the starburst implant on her face.

Alexa frowned, slowly she answered, "Because he's not sure they can be removed without killing me."

"Is that because of the alterations Seven of Nine made to your implants due to your head injury?" asked Vorik curiously.

Alexa glanced over at her Vulcan friend, "Yes, my implants are pretty unique, definitely not Borg standard anymore," she replied with wry amusement.

"If that Borg had never assimilated you none of that would have ever happened, I can't understand why the Captain's letting it stay after what it did to you," burst out Marie angrily.

All the warmth drained out of Alexa's face and she stared back at Marie coldly, ignoring for the moment her other three friends who were watching the two of them in dismay. "I guess it's a damn good thing I was transported off Voyager before I did anything as a drone, since obviously if I had the Captain should have just left me on that moon to die."

Marie blanched, "I didn't say that!" she exclaimed.

"Yes you did," corrected Alexa firmly, "If Seven's to blame for her actions as a drone then obviously I would have been as well. And don't think that I wouldn't have helped them assimilate this ship and everyone on it, I would have done it without hesitation, without question, because that's what it means to be a Borg drone."

"But…," protested Marie.

"No, no buts," Alexa interrupted, then continued more softly, "There's no heroic struggle, no trying to fight it, there's not even an inglorious mewl of protest. It's more like your entire brain is instantly overlaid with an AI that has access to all your memories." She let that sink in, "Blaming Seven for anything she did while a part of the Collective makes about as much sense as putting the phaser used in a crime on trial."

Marie's shoulders slumped, "I'm sorry."

Alexa sighed, "I know you want someone to blame for what happened to me Marie, but Seven is as much a victim in all this as I, she doesn't deserve your anger. And I would prefer it if you weren't angry with her, because she's also my friend and I'm going to do everything I can to protect her and help her figure out how to be an individual."

"What? When did this happen?" asked Susan, eyeing her closely.

Alexa returned the look, stare for stare. She wasn't going to announce that she and Seven were lovers, but she wasn't going to hide it either, and she knew that of her four friends Susan was the most likely to see how close their relationship actually was, for Susan had been the first to realize she was a lesbian. "Voyager rescued us two days after we regained our individuality, with a neural link you can discuss quite a few things in that time, and get to know each other pretty well."

Alexa hesitated uncertain how to get her friends to see Seven as more than just a Borg, "Seven was assimilated so young the few memories she has are fragmented images of her parents and her birthday cake from when she was six, she doesn't even remember her own name." Looking around she could see that her words were having an effect on her friends. "She has so little understanding of what it means to be an individual, to have feelings and emotions. One of the first things I had to help her with was being scared because she was experiencing fear for the first time in eighteen years."

Chapman made a dismayed sound.

"Yes," agreed Alexa, "She essentially grew up in a culture that's completely alien to ours. She's got a long, difficult way ahead of her trying to learn how to be a part of ours, and I've promised to help her in whatever way I can." She took in a deep breath, "And it would mean a lot to me if all of you would help me with that."

"You can count on me," Chapman offered immediately.

Vorik followed, "I will assist you as well, indeed considering her past she may find it easier to comprehend Vulcan logic than Human emotionalism."

Alexa chuckled, "Oh, no indeed on that, she certainly will."

Susan Nicoletti had her head cocked to the side watching everything intently, when the Pegasian met her eyes she straightened, "I'll be happy to help in any way I can as well."

Everyone turned to the last person around the bed who had not yet spoken, "Oh all right," Marie sighed, "I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll do what I can."

"That's all I can ask," Alexa looked at them thankfully.

* * *

Stardate 51017.5 (Mon, 07 Jan 2374 09:30 GMT)

Standing at the head of the conference room table, both hands placed firmly upon its surface, the Captain finished, "So, that's what we now know about the Borg." She looked around the table at each of her senior officer's faces, judging their reactions to the information she had just given them.

As she had expected Tuvok looked intrigued, Kim, Parris and B'Elanna Torres appeared to be struggling with the information, probably trying to fit it into what they had thought they knew about the Borg. And Chakotay, Janeway considered him for a moment trying to figure out the odd expression; he looked rather as if he had eaten something that disagreed with him, she finally decided with satisfaction. Nothing less than what he deserved for making assumptions and then refusing to re-examine them, she thought, a very bad trait in a Starfleet officer, hopefully he would learn something from this.

"We have just entered Borg space; it extends for thousands of light years ahead of us. Lt. Nikoleon informed me that the Borg use collections of endpoint fixed transwarp conduits or hubs to travel in Borg space. The closest entrance to this transwarp conduit system is the Borg Sector 12 entrance, fifteen lightyears from our current position. The Sector 12 conduit's endpoint is in Borg Sector 01." She raised a hand, silencing the questions she knew were about to begin. "Specifically the end point is at Borg Prime's transwarp conduit hub, one of the six transwarp hubs the Borg use to move their ships around our galaxy. These hubs connect thousands of transwarp corridors. If it wasn't too severely damaged in the attack on Unimatrix 01, we can use the hub to travel to the Alpha Quadrant."

Before anyone could interrupt her, the Captain continued, "But I don't feel comfortable with leaving here until we determine the current situation with Species 8472. They threatened to destroy all life forms in this quadrant, and as far as I know we possess the only means with which they can be defeated if they are currently carrying out that threat." Janeway paused, giving time for her statement to sink in. "Both Seven and Lt. Nikoleon estimated that there were at least 130 bioships involved in the destruction of Borg Prime. We know that Species 8472 did not return to fluidic space after destroying Borg Prime as there were three bioships waiting for us to exit the nebula. What we need to determine is what they are doing now, and if they are still in our galaxy what is their intent," she finished.

* * *

Stardate 51018.5 (Mon, 07 Jan 2374 18:30 GMT)

Alexa looked up curiously from her padd as she heard the sickbay doors open, upon seeing her friends enter she smiled warmly, "Hey, how are you all doing?" she asked.

"Isn't that supposed to be our question," Susan Nicoletti teased her.

The Pegasian chuckled lightly, "Yea, I guess so, I'm doing better." Her hand went to her head and the new dark brown hair there, "Finally persuaded the Doc to grow my hair back."

Chapman offered sincerely, "You didn't look bad without it."

Alexa stared at him surprised, then grinned, "I'll consider it if I ever get tired of my hair, but right now I'm glad to have it back."

Commenting upon the padd in her lap, Vorik said, "Lt. Torres is acting upon the suggestions you made for upgrades to the shields, we are currently in the process of upgrading the EPS conduits in Decks 6 and 8 to support the modified shield generators. I was curious if you knew more about the race that developed this technology, the Opani."

"Yes I do," Alexa nodded, "Actually it's actually pretty old technology, the Borg assimilated them 178 years ago," she sighed sadly, "since there were no known colonies I have to assume none of them escaped. The Opani were given the Borg Species Number of 361, and I doubt any of them still exist in the Collective; their average lifespan was only 90 years. I was troubled about using the technology until I asked myself what if every human was assimilated, and then 200 years after someone escaped from the Borg and used our technology, would I mind?"

"No," answered Marie for her.

Alexa smiled at her, "That was my answer too, and unless someone was just very selfish, I don't see than any of them would mind us using whatever technology we could to protect ourselves."

Pulling another padd from the stack on the biobed she handed it to Susan, "Can you take a look at this and tell me how feasible you think it is? I've been trying to figure out a way to modify our EPS system to supply Seven's alcove so we can move her to proper crew quarters. I don't like what's been going on in the Cargo Bay, and I want to get her moved out of there as soon as possible. The Doctor's letting me go today, and Seven's coming out of her regeneration cycle tomorrow. I need to help the Doctor with removing her armor and external implants, so I won't have a lot of time to help with installing an alcove."

Susan held the padd so that Vorik and William could look at it also, after a few minutes she replied, "Sure we can do this, just tell us which quarters to put it in."

Alexa's eyes narrowed, "I'm working on that, there seems to be one major impediment in my way but I've got an idea on how to get around that," she said determinedly.

* * *

Stardate 51020.2 (Tue, 08 Jan 2374 09:00 GMT)

"Captain, Commander," Lt. Nikoleon's voice came from behind the two officers. They paused, and waited for the Lieutenant to catch up to them. Captain Janeway wasn't surprised by the Pegasian's appearance; she had expected the Lieutenant would want to be present when Seven came out of her regeneration period.

The Doctor released Alexa from sickbay yesterday. He had had decreased the amount nanoprobes in her body allowing her natural olive skin tone to return, and stimulated the hair follicles to re-grown her dark brown hair. But had decided not to remove any of her implants as yet, wanting to consult with Seven before deciding which, if any, could safely be removed.

"Commander have you had time to assign Seven quarters yet?" Lt. Nikoleon asked, "With the EPS modifications we are doing on Decks 6 and 8 to power the shield generator upgrades, this would be a convenient time to run the necessary EPS conduit to supply an alcove if her quarters were on either of those decks. I've already figured out exactly what needs to be done to safely attach her alcove once the conduit is run to her quarters."

Janeway glanced at her First Officer expectantly, personnel issues, such as assigning quarters, were his responsibility.

"I saw your question earlier Lieutenant, but there are no quarters on those decks currently available. Seven will have to stay in the Cargo Bay for now," the Commander stated tightly, not appreciative of the fact that the Lieutenant had just tried to push the issue in front of the Captain.

Lt. Nikoleon shot him an incredulous look, "Sir?" she questioned. Her jaw firmed, "Then we will be putting up privacy partitions so people can't stare at, and make comments about her while she's regenerating, like they have been doing," she commented in a razor sharp tone.

"Lieutenant," barked Chakotay, initially hearing only the insubordination in the comment.

"What?" asked the Captain, appalled, and Chakotay froze, suddenly comprehending the entirety of the Lieutenants statement. "Whose been staring at her, and what comments have they been making?" Captain Janeway demanded.

The Lieutenant gave the Commander one last disgusted look before turning to the Captain, "People who come to the cargo bay for items often stay longer than necessary to stare at her, and a few make comments about her before leaving. They think she's unconscious and can't hear them, but with her aural implant she can, and with the neural link I'm always aware of what their doing as well. She's not familiar enough with euphemisms to understand what their actually saying, but I am, and quite frankly Captain I'm appalled by their behavior." Her eyes strayed back to Chakotay focusing on his Maquis insignia with contempt before meeting his eyes challengingly, making it only too clear who the majority of the perpetrators were. "The only thing that's stopped me from going to Commander Tuvok is the fact that they don't know about her aural implant and think she can't hear them, so it doesn't quite constitute grounds for harassment charges."

Alexa looked back at the Captain, "But it still doesn't make what their doing right, and displaying her in the Cargo Bay like that only encourages them to think of her as less than a fellow human being. I'm sure they wouldn't think it was right to sneak into someone's quarters and stare at them while they were sleeping, but they don't see anything wrong with doing the equivalent of that to Seven."

The Captain frowned, her face grim, "Because their taking their cues from their senior officers, and we've never quartered crewmembers or guests in our Cargo Bays, therefore she must be neither." Her eyes snapped to Commander Chakotay, "I don't care how much moving around you have to do Commander. All members of this crew are assigned crew quarters, and the newest member of our crew will not be treated any differently, see to it Commander." Her tone made it abundantly clear this was an order.

Lt. Nikoleon cleared her throat uneasily, drawing their attention, "I think Seven would feel more comfortable if she wasn't alone, she's not used to it, and to be honest the idea of it frightens her. I promised her I would help her adapt, so I'd like to give up my single quarters on Deck 8 and share quarters with her if at all possible."

Feeling more than a little appalled himself, and faced with two irate women who were staring at him as if he were personally responsible for the offending crewmembers behaviors, Chakotay replied quickly. "That will certainly help, there's another single junior officer quarters on Deck 9 that's empty, between the two I'm sure we can free up a double occupancy quarter on Deck 6. Give me a day to determine which quarters, and then another one to get everyone coordinated and moved, then you can run the EPS conduits for her alcove."

Nodding thoughtfully, Alexa commented, "That should be about right, she will probably be in sickbay or regenerating for most of that time anyway."

"What?" asked Captain Janeway, puzzled, "I wasn't aware she had made any medical decisions, and I know she hasn't discussed anything with the Doctor?"

Lt. Nikoleon glanced at the Captain uncertainly, "She hasn't, normally a drone regenerating is in a purely receptive state, awaiting instructions or performing analysis, but it didn't take Seven long to realize that she could change her current analysis to so that it was actually a reply to my thoughts."

"Ah," the Captain replied, "clever."

The Pegasian nodded, "She doesn't like the idea of losing all the protection her armor gives her, but she understands that the chances of the crew accepting her while she looks more Borg than Human are very low." The Captain frowned, and Alexa hurriedly continued, "And she wants to experience things she can't right now."

Alexa held out her hands, palm up toward the two senior officers and moved her thumb across her fingers demonstratively," I didn't realize it until the Doctor reduced the nanoprobes in my blood, but they deaden your sensitivity to almost every sense but hearing and sight. Right now she can't feel, taste, or smell like we can." She paused, letting what she had said sink in, "And she wants to experience those things like we can, what food tastes like, the scents in the hydroponics bay, the feel of fabric or water or anything against her skin," she explained.

The Captain finally responded huskily, "I'm certainly not going to object to any of that, Lt. Nikoleon; I just wanted to make sure it was her choice."

Alexa couldn't help but blush, "Well I may have replicated something, like chocolate ice cream…" she trailed off trying not to think of later and what she had done with the chocolate ice cream while thinking of Seven's touch…and Seven's mouth…and chocolate ice cream in Seven's mouth…

Janeway laughed a deep, low, rich laugh, "Chocolate ice cream, and apparently a visit to the flowers in the hydroponics bay. I don't think you fight fair Lieutenant," she observed.

The Pegasian looked anywhere but the Captain's grey eyes, "Perhaps not," she agreed.


	11. Chapter 10

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 10**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trademarks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially, an AU story.

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 02/19/07

Summary: Seven begins her surgeries.

* * *

Stardate 51020.2 (Tue, 08 Jan 2374 09:20 GMT)

The three officers stepped into the Cargo Bay, and immediately Alexa's eyes were drawn past Seven's still form in her alcove to the two crewmen who loitered by the stacks of supplies near the rear of the bay. Her hazel eyes, currently more brown than green, narrowed as she stared at them, wondering just how long they had been there. The two men looked over toward the doors and straightened upon seeing who had just walked in, then turned hurriedly toward the crates. They began promptly stacking supplies on the cart near them, betraying their prior knowledge of the supplies location.

Before Alexa could react, the Captain turned toward the nearest of the two security guards standing near Seven's alcove, "Lt. Andrews, how long have Crewman Dalby and Carson been in this Cargo Bay?"

Andrews looked over at the two men, surprise obvious, "I'm not sure Captain, maybe five or ten minutes."

Janeway's jaw tightened, her grey eyes hardened, and she directed one of her infamous glares toward the two unfortunate crewmen.

"Captain," Chakotay's voice interrupted drawing away the Captain's attention. "Let me handle this," he requested his face grim. The two senior officers stared at each other for a moment, and then Janeway indicated her permission with a sharp nod.

Alexa watched as the First Officer strode determinedly away, feeling a bright flare of internal satisfaction. Even if Chakotay weren't annoyed at them himself, he would be annoyed that the two Maquis crewmen had created a situation where the Captain became annoyed with their behavior and by extension him. And the Captain's annoyance definitely rolled down the ranks, usually gaining in intensity with every officer encountered.

"Regeneration cycle complete," Voyager's computer announced.

Concurrent with the announcement, Alexa felt Seven become fully aware on the subspace interlink. The Borg's gaze immediately locked onto hers, and silently over the neural link came, '_We will more thoroughly explore your reactions to varying sensory stimuli when an appropriate opportunity next occurs._'

Alexa struggled to keep her expression under control, given the actions that prompted the comment, she wasn't certain if that was a promise or a threat. Last night, motivated both by an imp of mischief and by her desire for Seven's touch, she had realized that the neural link presented a unique sensual opportunity. It hadn't taken very much to attract Seven's complete attention, just the lightest trail of a cold spoonful of ice cream on bare skin. Knowing that Seven was aware of everything she was doing had certainly heightened and sharpened her own arousal, and caught up in her desire, chocolate ice cream had not been the only thing she had played with last night. Now, to her rueful amusement, she realized that she had definitely given Seven a lot of new data to analyze.

Seven gave her one last intense look before stepping out of the alcove and addressing the woman behind her, "Captain Janeway."

"Seven," the Captain responded warmly, "I trust you are feeling better?"

"I am functioning at normal levels," Seven replied promptly.

Janeway smiled, "We're in the process of trying to find quarters for you. Lt. Nikoleon has expressed an interest in sharing those quarters, is that what you want as well? If you aren't certain now's the time to say so."

Seven's gaze moved back to Alexa, "That will be satisfactory," she replied with just the slightest undertone of smug amusement.

Alexa knew the full meaning behind the words even if the Captain didn't, '_Seven!_' she silently admonished. The caution might have had more of an effect if it weren't for the fact that the Pegasian was struggling to hide a grin, as well as a sudden jolt of arousal. Seven's lips curved in the barest hint of a smirk, not at all affected by the rebuke.

"Lt. Nikoleon also indicated that you were interested in talking to the Doctor about removing your Borg implants," Janeway stated.

Jarred out of their silent exchange, both Seven and Alexa turned to her with perplexed expressions, "Incorrect," stated Seven, "I would be unable to survive if all of my implants were removed. I wish to discuss with the Doctor the most efficient way to remove my body armor and external cybernetics, as well as which implants I wish to be removed."

Janeway stared at Seven searchingly for a moment, "Alright," she replied finally, "I can take you to see the Doctor now if you want."

It took Seven a moment to determine what she believed to be a proper response and receive an affirmation, as well as some refinement, from Alexa, "I would appreciate that Captain." She was confused when Janeway's gaze sharpened and immediately shifted to Alexa, and even more confused when her friend responded by holding up her hands submissively.

"I only corrected a few words; she already knew the basics of how to respond Captain," Alexa protested.

From the Pegasian's thoughts, Seven was able to identify the next shift in Captain Janeway's features as warmth and humor.

"Undoubtedly your doing Lieutenant," Janeway stated with a small smile.

"We might have had a short discussion on the uses and necessity of social politeness," Lt. Nikoleon allowed.

The Captain snorted, "There was a Pegasian in my Interspecies Protocol class at the Academy, I somehow doubt it was a short conversation on that subject. So what was the original reply?"

"That would be acceptable, thank you," responded Seven, still intrigued by the particular sound the Captain had made, and Alexa's identification of it as an expression of disbelief.

At the edge of her field of vision, movement drew Seven's attention. The two crewmen who had come into the Cargo Bay earlier were approaching her location followed closely by Commander Chakotay. They halted a few feet from her and surprised, she turned to face them when she realized with that they were waiting for her to acknowledge them. "Crewman Dalby, Crewman Carson," she stated coolly and waited, curious as to their purpose. She had been aware of Commander Chakotay reprimanding the two, but prompted by Alexa she had classified it as irrelevant and proceeded to ignore the conversation, now she was disturbingly unaware of any reason for their current behavior.

Dalby cleared his throat self-consciously, "Ma'am I understand you overheard our comments. We didn't know that you were sick because you injured yourself helping Lt. Nikoleon, and regenerating was the only thing that could help you. I'm sorry we shouldn't have been talking about you like that, it was wrong of us." His gaze shifted immediately over to Commander Chakotay, making it obvious that the First Officer was the impetus behind the apology.

Carson immediately followed, "I'm sorry as well Seven, it wasn't right of us to say that when you risked so much to help the Lieutenant. We didn't know you weren't part of the Borg anymore."

Seven hesitated, uncertain what response was expected of her. Carson's statement confused her, she still considered herself part of the Borg even though she was not part of the Collective, perhaps he simply did not know the correct terminology, she decided.

Before Seven could correct the Crewman's impreciseness, Alexa instructed her over the interlink, '_Tell them you accept their apologies and that Carson is correct you are no longer part of the Collective, but don't mention that you think of yourself as Borg to him. I'll explain later more thoroughly why._'

Alexa's directions confused her, but she trusted that the Pegasian had a convincing reason for them. "I accept your apologies." She stated to both men, and then turned to Crewman Carson, "You are correct I am no longer a member of the Collective."

"Seven regained her ability to think for herself, to be an individual once again, at the same time as I did," the Borg felt Alexa's hand on the armor of her arm at the same time as the Pegasian moved to stand beside her. Peripherally Seven was aware that all the others in the Cargo Bay were staring at them, the two Crewmen in particular seemed inexplicably focused upon Alexa's hand where it rested upon her armored arm. The dark haired woman's voice dropped to a lower tone, "And ever since she regained her free will Seven's chosen to protect and help me, even at the risk of her own life."

By this time, Seven was looking down into Alexa's face. She suspected that the Pegasian had been manipulating the earlier conversation, the purpose though eluded her, and she suspected that was to be the purpose of the promised later explanation. This last statement, however, was different; she could feel the sudden increase in Alexa's emotions. "You are my friend, I could not permit you to terminate or be permanently damaged. The thought of either was unacceptable to me, and my analysis gave a 21.78 percent chance of success," she stated responding to those emotions. Alexa made a shocked sound and abruptly paled. Belatedly Seven realized that the Pegasian hadn't been aware of the exact percentage. The Borg turned to face Alexa, and softly she said, "I am sorry, I was not my intent to distress you, I considered the risk acceptable compared to the certainty of your termination."

Seven was not prepared for Alexa's reaction, but she did not hesitant in returning the Pegasian's embrace. She had missed this, she realized as she closed her human eye and focused on the pleasant sensations. The sheer physicality of it, the scent of Alexa, the feel of her body pressed against her body armor, the feel of… with surprise she absorbed the fragrance and feel of the softly scented, silky hair against the bare skin of her jaw. Curious she drew away, "Your hair is brown, but it also contains red pigmentation," she stated staring at the hair strands with fascination. Alexa's hair color had not been relevant to her before her assimilation, but now things were different. Seven now found almost everything about Alexa to be relevant.

"Red highlights," Alexa informed her, "My father has always said I have russet colored hair because of the red."

Frowning slightly, Seven slowly stepped away from Alexa, and reached up to touch her own bare scalp.

"Blonde," Alexa answered her silent question gently, "You should have the same color hair as you did as a child, remember."

It took Seven a moment to recall the fragment of memory they had found together, "Yes," she agreed. Then, "May we go speak to the Doctor now?" she asked, turning toward Captain Janeway. Suddenly she was impatient to begin the process of removing those Borg components she was willing to lose, and attain a more human appearance.

"I'll take you there right now," Captain Janeway promised, her voice unusually husky.

* * *

Stardate 51021.6 (Tue, 08 Jan 2374 20:55 GMT)

Alexa straightened, stretching out her back and taking a quick look around her old quarters to determine how much more she had left to pack. They were almost bare, only a few of her personal items remained.

She had spent the previous eight hours assisting the Doctor and Kes with Seven's surgery. Using the subspace interlink she had sent deactivation codes to Seven's implants, allowing the Doctor to remove them without starting a cascading failure through Seven's cybernetic systems as would have likely happened otherwise. As it was, there had been a frightening moment when one of several linked implants had reacted badly to the removal of another implant, sending Seven into neural shock and threatening to sever her trochlear nerve. In a moment that still awed Alexa when she thought of it, Kes had used her newfound mental powers to dissolve the malfunctioning implant and save Seven's life.

The surgeries were only partially complete; Seven had just begun a twelve-hour regeneration cycle in the Cargo Bay, a newly installed privacy screen in place in front of her alcove. There was one more surgery planned, after which Seven would need to regenerate for 48 hours.

During tomorrow's surgery, Hickman and Chapman were scheduled to move the alcove to she and Seven's new quarters on Deck 6 Section 14. Seven would then be able to regenerate in the privacy of their quarters. That didn't mean, however, that there would be no Security guards watching over her. They would instead be stationed outside their quarters, and would remain there until their neural interfaces and their link with the Borg's subspace interlink was removed or disabled. It was a rather object example of her fears for Seven, she no less than the former Borg, was susceptible to being taken back over by the Collective, yet no Security guards had been placed to watch her.

Alexa knew Seven understood why the neural interface had to be removed as soon as possible, if a Borg vessel, or more specifically its vinculum, came in range of the Sector 12 subspace interlink both of them would immediately rejoin the Collective as drones, their individuality and free will wiped out within nanoseconds. That possibility was as unacceptable at this point to Seven as it was to Alexa, but that did not mean that Seven was exactly willing to have the neural interface removed. The idea of total silence in her mind was terrifying to the former Borg. Currently Seven was analyzing different possible ways to modify their neural interlinks so that they would not connect to the Borg's subspace interlink but directly to each other's neural interlink.

The entrance chime to her quarters rang, interrupting her thoughts.

"Enter," Alexa called, looking curiously toward the door as it opened, it was Marie Hickman.

Her friend smiled, "Hey, I thought you could maybe use some help, but I see you're almost done."

"I've been working at it," admitted Alexa, "Seven's regenerating for twelve hours, then we finish up removing the rest of her armor and some more implants. I need to get this done so Ensign Ashmore and I can switch quarters early tomorrow before I need to help the Doctor and Kes with her surgery."

Marie moved further into the room and handed her a sculpture she had picked up on Sikaris during their first year in the Delta Quadrant. They had thought to obtain spatial trajectory technology there, only to realize they had been deceived and the technology was fundamentally incompatible with their own. Still the sculpture was a beautiful representation of one of their birds of prey, reminding her of a Pegasian blue-tailed hawk, so Alexa had kept it.

"Everyone's talking about the hug between you and Seven in the Cargo Bay," Marie mentioned casually.

Alexa glanced at her sharply, "I'm not really surprised," the Pegasian acknowledged. "I hadn't realized until then exactly how low the odds were that we would both survive, or how much she was willing to risk for me," she finished softly, thinking of how much she had needed that brief physical connection to remind herself that they were both alive and well.

Marie nodded, "That's been making its way around as well, it's really made quite an impression on several people. Several people who were against Seven being allowed to stay have apparently changed their minds, or at least stopped being as vocal in their objections."

The Pegasian was quite aware that her friend was watching her closely for any reaction, "That's good, I'm glad they are finally willing to looking beyond the armor and implants."

"Well you certainly seem determined that they do," Marie observed as she handed another small sculpture to Alexa for packing. "And I'd say you've made a good start on that, everyone's so off balance at the notion of a huggable Borg they don't know what to think of her now."

The Pegasian carefully wrapped the fragile piece, "I just know it's going to be hard enough for her without people prejudging her because she was part of the Collective. So, even though Seven would probably object to the characterization strenuously, I'll take what I can get if it works."

Finally, her friend broached the subject Alexa suspected she had come specifically to ask, "You seem very attached to her" Marie commented.

"I am," Alexa readily acknowledged, "she's a kind and generous person beneath her Borg mannerisms. I think the more she adapts to being an individual, and learns how to deal with her emotions, the more that will be apparent to people who don't share a subspace neural link with her."

Marie stared at her, and Alexa could see the concern on her friend's face. "I'm just concerned for you Alexa. I know you feel responsible for her and that you owe her for saving your life, but I'm concerned you're putting yourself in a position where you will want something from her that she won't be able to give you. And even if it turns out she can, that it will be years before she's ready."

Indecisive about whether or not to respond, Alexa remained silent. She wanted to tell her friend that she and Seven were already in a physical relationship, but it was not right for her to make that decision without Seven's input. Finally she replied, "I understand your concerns Marie, but that is something Seven and I will have to work out together. She is, of course, already aware of my interest."

Marie blinked, surprised, then comprehension dawned, "Your neural link."

Alexa nodded, "The neural link," she confirmed. "Seven made it quite clear that her relative lack of understanding of human culture or human emotions does not mean that she is unable to make her own decisions in this matter."

The Pegasian didn't realize how much wariness her tone carried until Marie started laughing, "Something tells me that you're not about to make the mistake of suggesting that again."

Alexa smirked, "No, once was definitely enough," she admitted then joined in her friends laughter.

Eventually the two of them quieted, "Alright, I'll stay out of it then, I just don't want to see you get hurt," Marie said solemnly.

* * *

Stardate 51023.1 (Wed, 09 Jan 2374 10:15 GMT)

"So, what do you think?" the Captain asked the two men seated on the other side of her ready room desk.

Chakotay had a small, bemused frown on his face, "When did she have time to do this?" he asked, raising the padd in his hand slightly.

"Seven asked the Doctor to delay her surgery this morning in order to complete it," the Captain answered drily.

Tuvok looked up from the padd in his hand, "The proposed changes to their neural interfaces appear to address our security concerns, if we consider this request I would suggest that Lt. Torres should look over it as well." Janeway nodded her acknowledgement of the suggestion, and he continued, "The question in front of us does not appear to be whether or not the proposal is valid, it appears to be, but whether we will consider this proposal instead of the complete removal of the neural interface." He looked at his Captain steadily awaiting her response.

Janeway smiled briefly, "It does, doesn't it," she leaned back in her chair, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It strikes me that Seven is testing the waters so to speak, trying to gauge the temperature and depth before actually diving in. She's not willing to give up everything that she's used to in order to fully embrace her humanity." She paused, "Given the changes she's facing I can't say that I really blame her."

"You believe her desire to retain the neural interface link with Lt. Nikoleon is a crutch," stated Chakotay.

The Captain straightened, "I think losing her connection to the Collective was traumatic for her and Lt. Nikoleon's presence in the link keeps her from experiencing complete silence in her mind."

Tuvok pointed out, "With these changes she would experience that silence unless the Lieutenant was within 3 meters of her location."

"As I said, testing the waters," Janeway responded calmly.

Tuvok raised one eyebrow, considering her words, "She can experience existing with complete mental silence without being permanently subjected to it, as she knows that she merely has to come into close proximity of Lt. Nikoleon to alleviate the condition." Janeway thought his expression was faintly approving; it was an eminently logical solution to the Borg's problem.

"Lt. Nikoleon has seen this and has no problems with what Seven is suggesting?" Chakotay verified.

Janeway nodded, "They came together to submit it. The changes to the neural interface that allow it to be activated and deactivated by their cortical nodes, and the command frequencies to allow us to activate and deactivate the interface, were the Lieutenant's suggestions."

"From a security standpoint, I have no objections if Lt. Torres finds nothing wrong with their report." Tuvok assured her.

Chakotay frowned, "I don't have a problem with it right now, but I think we should monitor the situation. I understand why she doesn't want to now, but I think she should learn to live without it."

Tuvok commented, "Pegasians do not have a high tolerance for weakness of any type, I believe the situation will resolve itself. The Lieutenant will not want Seven to remain dependent but will encourage her complete independence; anything else would go against Lt. Nikoleon's cultural beliefs."

"That's the only reason I'm seriously considering giving my approval," Captain Janeway commented.


	12. Chapter 11

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 11**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trademarks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially, an AU story.

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 03/01/07

Summary: Seven's surgeries are completed, Seven and Alexa's neural interfaces are modified so they cannot connect with the Borg subspace interlinks, and Marie Hickman gets a surprise.

* * *

Stardate 51023.7 (Wed, 09 Jan 2374 15:15 GMT) 

Alexa watched in wonder as Seven's eyelids fluttered open and two beautiful ice-blue eyes, one framed by the external portion of her optical implant, focused upon her. The Doctor had done an excellent job in creating a replacement for that part of Seven's optical implant; even though she knew which eye was artificial she could see no difference between the two.

"Hey," she softly greeted, smiling at Seven warmly as she gently placed her hand on the bare shoulder showing above the silvery sheet. She didn't know which was more beautiful to her right now, the pale blue eyes staring into hers, the shining shoulder length mass of wheat blonde hair, or the sight of bare shoulders and the delicate line of collarbones leading to the hollow of Seven's throat.

"Alexa," Seven swallowed and the shoulder underneath Alexa's hand tensed, "This silence is uncomfortable," the Borg announced.

"I know," Alexa admitted in a low voice, not particularly wanting to be overheard by the Doctor or Kes who were currently hovering over a console in another part of Sickbay replicating anti-Species 8472 nanoprobes. "I didn't realize how used to your presence I had gotten until we modified your neural interface and you stopped transmitting to the subspace interlink."

Captain Janeway had come to Sickbay earlier to inform them that she was approving their request to modify their neural interfaces. As they were at a point in the Borg's surgeries requiring them to awaken Seven and run diagnostics on her cortical node anyway, Alexa had suggested they obtain Seven's approval and proceed with the modification to their neural interfaces. The Pegasian knew they were approaching the coordinates for the Sector 12 transwarp corridor location. Before the Captain could order Voyager into the corridor, the modifications to their neural interfaces had to be completed. Otherwise the danger of running into a Borg vessel and their being pulled into the Collective consciousness was simply too great of a risk, both for themselves and for Voyager.

Alexa continued, "As soon as your feeling up to it, I'm going to have the Doctor proceed with modifying my neural interlink and removing the carpial implant in my hand."

Seven looked relieved, "Acceptable. I am ready now."

That was all the warning Alexa had before Seven sat up and the thin sheet fell to her waist. Grabbing the edge, the Pegasian jerked the covering upward, hoping that the two security guards at the door hadn't been looking in their direction at that moment. Her eyes met startled blue ones, "I guess I need to find some clothing for you," Alexa finally managed, trying not to dwell on the memory of pale, full, rose tipped breasts. Now was not the time to be thinking about the soft, smooth bare skin just the thickness of a sheet away. "Computer privacy screen," she croaked. As they were in the main surgical bay, a semi-circle of opaque forcefield formed between them and the rest of Sickbay, obscuring both sight and sound.

"You are aroused," observed Seven. Then, even though she had known what the Doctor was planning to complete today, she noticed she had hair for the first time. Seven reached up and drew a lock forward so she could look at it. "My hair follicles have been stimulated," she said, her voice betraying her wonder.

"You have beautiful hair; it reminds me of the color of wheat ready for the harvest," Alexa commented huskily, "It suits you."

Seven eyed her dubiously, "My hair reminds you of a grain?"

Alexa's voice took on a far off tone, "The wheat stalk pales from green to this color when the wheat is ripe, my father grows fields and fields of it. When I think of fall on Pegasus, I think of golden wheat fields rippling with the wind."

A frown etched itself upon Seven's face. "You will show me this when our link is reestablished," the blonde stated, aggrieved.

"Of course," agreed Alexa, understanding the blonde's frustration. Seven had become accustomed to Alexa's memories providing information about things she had never seen or experienced.

The Doctor walked through the forcefield followed closely by Kes. "I believe you need these," he indicated the neatly folded stack of clothing in his arms.

There had been quite an argument between them over his proposed choice of clothing for the former Borg. The initial biosuit had been a skintight silver biomesh fabric complete with matching two-inch high-heeled pointed toed shoes. Alexa had taken one look at it and informed him that he was absolutely not dressing Seven in it or at least not only in it, and she was certainly not going to let him make Seven wear those unhealthy shoes.

"_But," he defended, "I've seen several women wearing these during their off duty times."_

_Alexa stared at him, and then a suspicion of an idea formed in her mind, she turned and looked at Kes. There they were, the same type of shoes the Doctor thought Seven should wear. She turned back to the EMH, "Your right Doctor, but Seven's used to flat-bottomed Borg body armor boots, not heels, and you have to admit those aren't the healthiest shoes for someone to wear."_

"_Well…no," he agreed reluctantly._

_Kes, who obviously realized she was the Doctor's source for shoe ideas, broke in, "Doctor I wear these so I don't feel so short all the time, but I don't think Seven's going to have that problem." The Ocampan smiled gently, "Perhaps Alexa and I can take another look at the replicator database and choose something more comfortable for her."_

"_I suppose that would be alright," he sniffed and stalked off, "since my suggestions have been deemed inadequate."_

The eventual results of their search now resided in the Doctors arms: Flat-soled, soft-sided boots, a dark grey jumpsuit with royal blue piping, a silver biosuit designed to go underneath the jumpsuit, and a lumbar-sacral brace. The latter the Doctor recommended along with strengthening exercises until Seven's muscles were used to supporting her posture, until now that task had primarily been performed by her Borg body armor.

Noticing Seven eyeing the clothing with interest Alexa shook the sheet slightly, "Here hold this," she waited until the Borg had a hold on the sheet. Turning to the Doctor she took the stack of clothing out of his arms and then stared at him expectantly.

"What?" he asked defensively then realizing that she was waiting for him to leave, "Really!" he exclaimed. "You do remember I was the one who removed all her armor, and anyway I'm a Doctor, I'm not going to look at her with prurient interest!"

Since the clothing he had chosen seemed to indicate otherwise, Alexa simply raised one eyebrow and gave him a steely look.

He humped, "Oh very well, I'll be in my office when you are done." Irritation obvious, he turned and exited back through the forcefield.

"I need to monitor the nanoprobe replication process," Kes announced looking intently between the two of them. She hovered there for a moment longer, a slightly puzzled look upon her face before turning abruptly and walking back though the forcefield, leaving them alone.

Alexa knew that Kes had empathic abilities, and wondered if she had picked up on the attraction between her and Seven. Before she could comment on the thought to Seven, the blonde had dropped the sheet and slipped from the biobed to stand beside her. Alexa froze, torn between turning and looking her fill, and insisting that the other woman cover up before she explained how the clothing was worn. She could hardly touch Seven at the moment, and as soon as her own surgery was finished the Borg had a 48 hour regeneration cycle. It would be two to three very long days before she could be with Seven, and it seemed as if knowing exactly what she couldn't touch for that length of time was certainly a type of finely honed torture.

Finally, even inevitably, she turned and drew in a sharp breath at the sight that awaited her, pale skin, interrupted here and there by strips of dermalplastic tape that did not detract from Seven's overall beauty. The full breasts she had fleeting seen earlier, a trim slender waist, womanly curved hips, and triangle of golden curls at the apex of slender long legs that tapered into delicately trim ankles and feet. Her eyes retraced their path, finally meeting blue ones, "You are so beautiful," she whispered reverently.

Seven's eyes widened, she stared at Alexa for a long moment then stepped toward her. Alexa promptly took a step backward and snatched the first item on top of the pile of clothing and held it up in front of her defensively. It was the back support, "We can't do this right now, you have to get dressed," she said pleadingly.

"You're hands are trembling," Seven observed, but didn't move toward her again.

Alexa looked, her hands were indeed shaking.

"Of desire for me?" asked Seven, referring to something the Pegasian had said when describing her first intimate experience.

Alexa noted with a pang of arousal that her voice had deepened ever so slightly. "Yes," she admitted in a whisper.

"Acceptable," Seven replied.

Alexa absorbed the reply then she smiled wryly, "I'm sure I will be much worse off by the time your regeneration cycle is finally finished."

Seven tilted her head slightly to the side then apparently satisfied that she understood the statement she turned her attention to the garment in Alexa's hands. "This is a supportive brace," she stated curiously.

"Your armor provided a lot of your support, especially for your back, the Doctor recommended this until you build up your back and stomach muscles to better support your spine," Alexa explained.

Fifteen minutes later Seven was sealing the opening of the jumpsuit together, staring down intently at the fastening strips as she did so, strands of blonde hair hanging down on either side of her face. She paused to push it back behind her ears, an annoyed look on her face.

"Your hair bothering you?" asked Alexa.

"Yes," Seven agreed, "I am unaccustomed to it, it obscures my vision and the feel of it against my face is distracting."

Alexa considered her thoughtfully, "There are some things we can do to help that, putting it in a bun, using a hair band or barrette to restrain it your neck, or braiding it, personally I think it would look best in a bun or gathered at your neck."

Seven remarked seeking confirmation, "The latter is the method used by Captain Janeway."

"Yes," agreed Alexa, "Though she's actually had several different hairstyles over the past three years, but that's what she's doing right now."

Seven replied tersely, "Acceptable."

The Pegasian gave her a concerned glance, "You're not alone Seven, and the adjustments to my neural interface will be complete in just a few hours." Alexa was troubled, if Seven could not accept a few minutes of silence, how would she handle the hours that would regularly occur each day.

The Borg drew in a deep breath, "It is difficult," she admitted in a small voice, "I am reminded of your injury and the destruction of…" her voice trailed off.

"The destruction of Unimatrix 01 and Borg Prime," Alexa finished softly for her. "I'm here Seven, alive and well thanks to you, and you know I was also affected by their loss." The Pegasian berated herself for not realizing that Seven's problem was actually twofold, the silence in her mind and the association of that silence with catastrophic and terrifying events. She reached out and drew the Borg into a reassuring hug. "Seven, nothing bad is going to happen, we're going to drop the privacy screen, fix your hair, you're going to help the Doctor and Kes with my surgery, and then we're going to our quarters where you're going to start your regeneration cycle."

Seven's arms tightened around her for a moment then she pulled away, "Let us begin then," she said determinedly.

* * *

The first thing Alexa felt when she awoke after the surgery was Seven's relief at the renewed existence of their neural link. '_I guess everything went well then_,' she commented silently, still slightly dazed from the sedative. 

'_Correct,_' replied Seven, '_there were no difficulties encountered in completing either procedure. Now, what does a wheat field look like?_'

Alexa was amused at Seven's impatience; she was barely awake. Yet she already knew which memory she wanted to show the blonde. She was much younger, only ten Pegasian years old; it was a beautiful sunny day with only a few wispy white clouds in the sky. She was standing at the top of a slight rise, and to every side there were fields of wheat surrounding her. They flashed palely golden under the bright sun with every breeze, and the scent of the ripened grain hung delicately in the air. '_That is a field of wheat,_' she said over the link as she let the memory fade. She opened her eyes, and after blinking at the brightness of the Sickbay lights, focused on Seven.

'_You are correct, the wheat and my hair are similar in color,_' Seven agreed after a moment of consideration.

"How are you feeling Lieutenant?" asked the Doctor, as he stepped beside her biobed, drawing her attention away from the blonde.

"Fine," she replied huskily. Lifting her hand to examine where the implant had been, she was pleased to note there was no remaining sign of it.

"Another excellent job if I do say so myself," the Doctor declared smugly.

Alexa felt Seven's irritation and turned to look at her, in anyone else it would have been a raised eyebrow, but since the Borg was performing this action with her left eye, she was actually raising the exterior portion of her optical implant. Alexa found it charming, but she doubted the Doctor, who was currently Seven's target, found it so. In fact, she thought, he looked rather intimidated.

"We did an excellent job, I mean," he hastily corrected himself.

Alexa smothered her grin as she sat up on the biobed, glancing around the room she was pleased to note the absence of the two security guards that had been there earlier. "Anymore tests that need to be run before I take Seven to begin her regeneration cycle?" she asked briskly. With the end in sight, she was eager to get out of sickbay.

The Doctor replied, "No not today, but I'd like for you to come in tomorrow for a follow-up Lieutenant. I want to make sure your remaining implants are stable."

"Alright," she promptly agreed and hopped down from the biobed to stand beside Seven. "Shall we?" she asked her.

Seven nodded her acquiescence, as they walked out of sickbay the Borg remarked over their link, '_You are amused, why?_'

Alexa glanced at the woman walking beside her; Seven had decided to wear her hair in a chignon, declaring that the sensation of hair on her neck was too distracting. Given that Seven was having enough of an adjustment already to everything about her body changing, it wasn't surprising to Alexa that being constantly reminded of one of those changes was one thing too many. Besides, Seven looked lovely with her blonde hair up, and her long graceful neck exposed. Alexa couldn't help but think of how it would be to trail her lips along the nape of that neck.

Seven gave her an intense look, '_I was not aware that area of the body was an erogenous zone._'

'_It's not,_' agreed Alexa, '_but neither is a person's back or fingers…_' she allowed her mental voice to trail off suggestively.

Seven quirked her lips in a small smile, '_you are correct,_' she agreed, remembering.

'_As for why I am amused,_' Alexa returned to Seven's earlier question, '_You look very different than you did. I'm looking forward to seeing how the people who couldn't look beyond your armor and cybernetics to see the woman underneath react to you now._'

'_You have consistently accurately extrapolated my current appearance,_' Seven commented.

Alexa smiled, "Not quite," she disagreed quietly, "my imagination fell rather short of reality."

Seven raised her implant, "Indeed," she replied. She might have suspected Alexa was being insincere if it were not for the neural link between them. Remembering that Alexa had still not explained her reasoning for her instructions the day before in the Cargo Bay, she asked through their link, '_You promised earlier to explain to me why I was not to mention to Crewmen Carson that I still consider myself to be Borg, but have not had the opportunity to do so yet. Is there sufficient time now?_'

'_Yes,_' replied Alexa, '_When people have a strong emotional attachment to a particular idea or belief, their pleasure center activates when they **reject** any new evidence that their strongly held idea or belief is incorrect. _i_ Are you familiar with this biological process?_'

'_I am, it is illogical, they are rewarded for ignoring new information which may be more accurate,_' Seven responded.

Alexa nodded, '_It is illogical, but it is also true. There are several people on this vessel who knew someone who was killed or assimilated at Wolf 359. It is reasonable to conclude they have a strong emotional attachment to their beliefs about the nature of the Borg. Most people think the Borg and the Collective are the same thing, I thought that myself until I was assimilated and then regained my individuality. I understand what you mean when you say you are still Borg, but the average person on this crew would not understand the difference between the two without extensive explanations. I don't want you to get lumped in their mind with the Borg that they hate and fear before you ever have the chance to have that conversation. If that happens it will be very difficult to get them to rationally listen to the idea that the Collective and an individual Borg are not always the same entity.'_

'_I believe I understand,_' replied Seven after a moment, '_I should not inform crewmembers I consider myself to still be Borg unless I am certain that they will not assume I mean I wish to rejoin the Collective._' Seven hesitated thoughtfully then continued, '_or that I still believe assimilation is the appropriate way to gain perfection._'

Alexa looked at her compassionately, '_yes, exactly, just because you are Borg does not mean you wish to be a part of the Collective anymore, or that you agree with their current method of achieving perfection, or even if they can achieve perfection by assimilating the known universe._'

They stopped in front of the turbolift, the doors opened revealing Crewmen O'Donnell and Carlson. The two crewmen stopped speaking abruptly, but Alexa didn't think it was because of the subject of their conversation. The two men seemed stunned by their appearance, or more accurately by Seven's appearance. They stepped into the turbolift and Alexa requested, "Deck Six." Amused, she glanced once again at the two crewmen, "Good afternoon Crewman O'Donnell, Crewman Carlson," she greeted them. They just had time to stutter out a reply before the turbolift doors opened once again on Deck 6.

Over their neural link, Seven commented sadly, '_They were afraid of me._'

"No I don't think they were," Alexa responded, "they didn't draw back from you did they?"

Seven glanced at her uncertainly then reviewed the data from her cortical node. "No they did not, but their heart rates were elevated, their muscles were tensed, and their pupils dilated, all indicative of a hormonal stimulus response."

Alexa chuckled, "Well that's probably true," she paused in the middle of the corridor. Seven stopped as well and looked at her puzzled. "Just not a fight or flight one," Alexa continued.

Seven's eyes widened as she realized from the link what Alexa meant, "You believe they were sexually attracted to me."

Alexa grinned, "As I said, they were indeed fascinated by you, but they weren't afraid of you." She indicated the door they had just stopped in front of, "These are our quarters, Deck 6 Section 14." She typed in their access code into the door control panel and the door opened. Voyager's double occupancy quarters had a short, narrow entryway between the door and main room designed to provide some privacy if the other occupant was sleeping or getting dressed when the second person entered.

As soon as the door closed behind the two of them, Seven seized Alexa from behind and pulled her tightly against her, one hand splayed temptingly low on her stomach, the other immediately cupping and caressing one breast. Seven had wanted to touch Alexa ever since the Pegasian's reaction to the sight of her nude body in Sickbay. That desire had not lessened during their trip through the ship, but instead had increased steadily. No longer separated from Alexa by thick, impenetrable armor, but only by thin, pliable clothing, the Borg reveled in the feel and warmth of the darker woman's body against her own, With a low moan, Alexa arched back against Seven, resting her head on the blonde's shoulder. The Borg did not hesitate, but begin tasting and nipping hungrily at the length of neck now offered to her.

"Oh!" a shocked feminine voice abruptly intruded. Jarred out of the sexual haze they had fallen into, Seven and Alexa startled, staring at the end of the entryway where Marie Hickman now stood. Reluctantly Seven released Alexa.

"Marie, what are you doing here?" Alexa asked, confused and dismayed at this breach of her and Seven's privacy.

"We just finished installing Seven's alcove," The short brunette explained in a rush, "and decided to wait so she could look it over and let us know if anything was wrong." She blushed furiously, "I err… didn't think you would mind. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Chapman appeared beside Hickman, and was soon followed by Vorik.

Alexa shook her head, reminding herself that these were her friends; she didn't need to guard her privacy as stringently with them as she had ever since the Academy. "It's alright. I just didn't know you were in here is all." She half turned and motioned for Seven to come up beside her, "But while you are, everyone meet Seven, and Seven this is Ensign Marie Hickman, Lt. William Chapman and Ensign Vorik. They along with Lt. Susan Nicoletti… and of course you now, are my closest friends on Voyager." The three murmured appropriate greetings while looking at Seven with frank curiosity.

As soon as the introductions were done, Vorik, ever practical, promptly held out an engineering tricorder, "Would you confirm that your alcove is functioning properly," he asked.

Seven, relieved to have something easily understandable to do, accepted it and slipped around the entryway wall. She curiously noted the unopened boxes stacked beside one of the narrow beds, and then made her way to where her alcove was installed against the far right corner of the rectangular room. All around the alcove wall panels had been removed, revealing the underlying supports, bulkhead, and conduits. Seven began there first, checking the power converters, which adapted Voyager's EPS to a power source suitable for a Borg alcove.

"As soon as you're satisfied with it we will reinstall the room panels, then it will look a lot better," Chapman assured her.

Seven barely spared him a glance before continuing with her task. She considered it self-evident that they would replace the panels, and wasn't sure why he had made the statement.

Knowing that talkativeness was a sign of nervous behavior for Will, Alexa sought to reassure him. "I would appreciate that," she commented drawing his attention away from Seven and the Borg's ignoring of him and his unnecessary comment.

"The alcove is functioning properly," Seven announced a few moments later. Alexa caught her eye, looked at her expectantly. Seven stared at her for a moment confused, then recalling their discussion on social behavior added belatedly, "Thank you."

Alexa smiled gently, '_Don't worry with practice it will become what is normal, instead of uncomfortable and strange,_' she silently reassured the Borg over their link. Seven shot her a dubious look, but did not say anything.

Marie and Will replied, "You're welcome," while Vorik responded with a more formal, "You are welcome." The three quickly and efficiently began replacing the room panels hiding the conduits in the walls. Within a few moments they were completely finished.

Looking around uncertainly, Chapman hesitantly asked, "I guess we will see you again in 48 or so hours?"

Seven glanced quickly at Alexa, mildly alarmed at this prospect. She did not want to be impolite but she already had other plans for the time immediately following the ending of her regeneration cycle, and those plans certainly did not include anyone or anything else other than Alexa.

"Sorry Will, Seven and I need some time together, we will probably see you the following morning, maybe we can get together for breakfast before our duty shift," Alexa calmly explained.

"Oh," he paused frowning, "why do you…"

That was as far as he got before Marie interrupted him, "Sure Alexa, ok guys I think it's time we left." The brunette grabbed Chapman's arm, "Vorik get our tools," she ordered as she began enthusiastically pulling him after her.

"Marie, what are you doing?" Chapman protested as he bemusedly allowed the woman to pull him along behind her.

Just before the door closed behind them, Seven heard Marie say, "I'll explain in a bit Will."

Baffled at their behavior, Seven turned and looked inquiringly at Alexa and Vorik. Alexa looked amused, and Vorik was staring after his two friends with one raised eyebrow. Seven assumed his expression indicated that he was just as confused by their behavior as she was. With a slight shrug, he knelt and began gathering the various engineering tools scattered about where they had been working and placing them in the appropriate engineering kits.

Alexa considered the Vulcan for a moment, and then looked at Seven. Over their neural link she asked, '_Do you mind me telling him our friendship is not platonic?_'

Seven gave the question some consideration, understanding that Alexa was reticent about discussing her relationships after her experiences at the Academy. '_I will leave the decision to you. I have no objections to him knowing the nature of our relationship._'

The Pegasian nodded, turning back to the kneeling Vulcan she said, "Vorik," to catch his attention. When he looked up curiously she continued, "Seven and I are lovers as well as friends."

He blinked once, and his eyebrows rose for a moment before returning to their usual position. "That is why you wish an evening together," he mused.

"Yes," answered Alexa succinctly.

He looked between them, "Understandable, and may I offer my congratulations, I know you have felt very alone at times Alexa."

"Thank you, and yes I have," she responded.

Tools now all returned to their appropriate kits, he stood, "Good night," he offered politely.

"Night, Vorik," Alexa replied.

A second behind her Seven also replied, "Good night, Vorik." He nodded and promptly left.

Seven stared in acute frustration at Alexa, knowing what the Pegasian was about to say, and knowing that she could not argue with the other woman's reasoning.

"It's too dangerous, you've had major surgery today and need to heal, not to mention you need to regenerate to make sure your implants recover from all the modifications we've done to them," Alexa argued softly and with honest regret. She could feel Seven's frustration, her arousal and desire, and they fueled her own desires, but her fear of hurting Seven was much greater.

Seven remained silent, for she could not disagree. Nevertheless, she wanted to touch Alexa, she wanted to experience what it would feel like for Alexa to touch her now that there was no Borg body armor preventing it, and she did not want to wait 48 more hours to experience either. In one quick move, she pulled Alexa against her and claimed the Pegasian's lips and mouth with her own. She did not hesitate, but possessively and commandingly delved deeply into the mouth underneath her own. Finally, the Borg tore herself away with one last nip to Alexa's lower lip. Breathing heavily she instructed the Pegasian, "You will insure that you have satisfied your need for sleep and food before I exit my regeneration cycle."

With those words, she released Alexa, turned to her alcove and entered in the commands for her long regeneration cycle, and with one last smoldering look at the still recovering Pegasian, she stepped back into its embrace.

* * *

i Carey, B. (2006, January 24). _A Shocker: Partisan Thought Is Unconscious._ Retrieved Febuary 25, 2007, from New York Times 


	13. Chapter 12

**Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 12**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trademarks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.

Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially, an AU story.

Rating: Mature

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 06/07/07

Summary: A meeting in Sickbay and Seven's first night without Borg exoplating.

* * *

Stardate 51029.5 (Fri, 11 Jan 2374 18:00 GMT) 

"Doctor to Lt. Nikoleon," Alexa's combadge announced.

Warily, sensing a setback to the evening's plans, she answered, "Yes, Doctor."

He promptly responded, "Seven needs to come to Sickbay as soon as she finishes her regeneration cycle. Just a few scans to make sure everything's ok," he finished cheerfully.

With an internal howl of protest, she reluctantly replied, "I understand Doctor." Seven was not going to be pleased, she thought while closing the communications channel.

Thirty minutes later.

"Regeneration cycle complete," the computer announced.

Seven stepped out of the alcove; she didn't immediately glance at Alexa, but instead stared fixedly at the wall. The Borg took in a deep breath, her nostrils flaring.

Alexa understood, for she shared the same feelings of frustration, "There's nothing I can do, I just wish I had realized earlier that he would want to check you over."

Seven closed her eyes with a deep sigh, "I understand." The Borg looked up; her blue eyes met Alexa's, and softened. "We should go now," she stated resignedly. On their way to the door, she paused for a moment and looked curiously at the small figurines placed on a shelf near Alexa's bed.

"I've picked them up from some of the planets where we've stopped, it's a good way to remember the places and people we've met out here," Alexa explained, after noticing what had attracted Seven's attention. "I'll tell you the history of each of them sometime." Seven nodded, taking one last look before proceeding toward the door once again.

They saw only a few people on their way to the turbolift, all of whom nodded or greeted them, and stared at them in open curiosity. The Borg found their behavior reassuring; curiosity was preferable to the fear the crew had displayed before the removal of her armor. Once at the turbolift they had to wait a moment for a lift to arrive at their deck. When the turbolift doors opened, Alexa was surprised to see Lt. Torres, Lt. Paris and Ensign Kim within the lift until she realized it was Alpha shift's dinnertime, and people were headed to and from the Messhall on the second deck.

"Lieutenants, Ensign," Alexa greeted them as she and Seven stepped into the lift, amused at their assorted reactions to the blonde's appearance. Paris and Kim were openly staring at the Borg woman in unmistakable appreciation, while Lt. Torres gave both the blonde and the two men a narrow-eyed annoyed stare. "Seven, this is Lt. B'Elanna Torres, Lt. Tom Paris, and Ensign Harry Kim," she quickly made the introductions even though she knew Seven had already recognized them.

The three officers barely had time to respond, "Hello," before the lift stopped and the doors opened once again.

As she and Seven stepped out, Lt. Paris called after them brightly, "Have fun in Sickbay," most likely figuring out their destination from the fact they were getting off on Deck 6.

Seven stopped and turned, raising her brow. "Doubtful," she returned, employing the same dry tone as the doors closed.

Alexa chuckled, amused at the blonde's response, and pleased that the Borg understood that Lt. Paris was being sarcastic.

'_I do not believe I would have without the neural link, our discussions about human behavior have been very informative. I also sensed your response to his comment, which served to verify my interpretation of it,_' Seven responded to the Pegasian's thought.

Alexa nodded thoughtfully as they made their way to Sickbay, reminded of how Seven had initially learned to recognize the emotions she was experiencing by Alexa identifying them for her. As they walked through the Sickbay doors, the Pegasian was surprised to see the Doctor and Captain Janeway in the Doctor's office huddled together over a padd. Alerted by the sound of the door, or perhaps just the motion of them entering, the Captain looked up. Alexa noticed that her eyes flitted between Seven, the padd, and back once again to Seven. Immediately the Pegasian wondered if the Doctor's search for Seven's identity had finally been successful.

'_My identity,_' Seven echoed uncertainly through the link. She knew that the Doctor had been trying to match her DNA with those on file in the Federation database, but her analysis had indicated that he would fail. Voyager's database held only a relatively small number of DNA identification references, the majority of which were Starfleet members. Thus, she had calculated only a 1.5 percent chance that the Doctor would succeed in finding a familial DNA match.

The two women watched as the Captain stood up, and came toward them bearing the padd and followed closely by the Doctor. "Seven, Lt. Nikoleon," Janeway greeted them, but Alexa noticed the Captain's eyes were almost solely focused upon Seven. "Seven, we've found a genetic match to your DNA," she handed the padd to the Borg.

Alexa watched with equal parts concern and curiosity as Seven scanned quickly through the padd, the Borg's thoughts and feelings a confused tangle through their link. There was a flare of angry emotion, and then the blonde abruptly handed the padd to her. Alexa reflexively glanced down at it, and the image of a smiling blonde haired girl immediately captured her attention.

Annika Hansen, she read, born Stardate 25479 on Tendara colony, parents Erin and Magnus Hansen. Alexa continued, the Hansen's had been highly respected exobiologists, and recipients of a Federation research grant to study the Borg. Obviously, they had decided to take their four-year-old daughter along with them.

Alexa glanced up in wonder, considering the woman beside her anew now that she knew more of her past, Annika Hansen, it sounded Nordic perhaps, she thought. It would definitely fit if it were; the tall blue-eyed blonde would certainly blend in with the population of any of the Nordic homelands of Earth.

'_Nordic?_' queried Seven.

'_Very northern region of Europe on Earth, comprising of the old Earth nations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, with a distinctive ethnic appearance,_' answered Alexa, picturing in her mind the Earth landmasses she was naming. Alexa waited, certain that Seven had more questions, but the Captain spoke before the Borg could form them.

"I'm sorry we don't have more information about your parents," Janeway apologized, "that's everything we had in our database about them."

Seven answered frankly, "I had not expected that you would be able to find a DNA match."

"It did take an extensive search, but I finally found it in the Federation Missing Personnel DNA database," the Doctor commented, puffing out his chest in self-congratulation.

The Captain shot him a quelling look before continuing, "Your parents' research of the Borg was funded by a grant from the Federation Council on Exobiology. They were required to undergo a through medical examination before being authorized use of the USS Raven. Its standard procedure for Federation funded civilian research projects, and the reason the Federation had access to their medical information to put their DNA profile into the Missing Personnel database when they were lost after deviating from their flight plan and crossing over into the Romulan Neutral Zone."

"They were seeking the Borg, they found them," Seven stated tensely.

Alexa winced in sympathy, nothing in the information on the padd or the memories Seven had shared of her parents, gave the Pegasian an insight into their reasoning, but she could guess. Erin and Magnus Hansen had been raised on Earth, and had most likely never been in a moment's danger their entire lives prior to searching for the Borg. Alexa had run into that mindset before. Never having known danger, the person blithely assumed that safe state would somehow continue, that no matter what situation they found themselves in, they would magically be allowed to evade it unscathed. It was an odd type of hubris, and each time it never failed to amaze her, since the people in question were usually intelligent in every other way.

Seven turned to her abruptly, staring, '_Illogical,_' she protested.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alexa noticed the Captain's eyes narrowing, "I know its illogical Seven," she said aloud. Over the link she explained, '_We really shouldn't be talking over our link when someone else is with us, it's not polite. Or at least if we find it necessary, then we shouldn't be obvious about it, especially around Captain Janeway._' "But there are a lot of Federation civilians who think that nothing bad can possibly happen to them, so they go into situations without considering the risks," she continued. Meeting Seven's gaze she reminded her, "I've experienced your memories of your parents, they loved you, and they would not have knowingly put you in any danger," she finished softly, but with conviction. Seven turned away abruptly, and Alexa knew the Borg was recalling the few memories she possessed of her parents.

The Pegasian sighed lightly, remembering the moment when she realized her own parents were just as human and fallible as she was. She had just turned twenty-six and realized that her mother had been pregnant with her at this age. She had wondered how in the world her mother had felt capable of bringing a child into the world. Alexa certainly knew she didn't feel adequate to handle everything the universe could throw at her, much less protect and guide a child through it. However, by that point in her life she had realized that she would never achieve the confidence and strength she had thought her parent's possessed when she was a child and teenager, because it had always been inaccurate. Now that she was an adult herself, she realized that they had just been adept at hiding their moments of doubt and insecurity from her.

Drawn out of her thoughts by the weight of it, Alexa looked up and met the Captains thoughtful grey-eyed gaze. Uncertainly she returned it, confused as to why her commanding officer was staring at her in such a manner. There was no anger in it, no displeasure, merely a steady disconcerting contemplation. Abruptly, the Captain looked away, turned toward Seven, "The Federation knew almost nothing about the Borg when your parent's received their research grant. They had no way of knowing how dangerous the Collective was when they went searching for them," she stated, "and neither the Federation Science Council or Starfleet was aware they had taken you with them until several months after contact was lost. Even with the lack of knowledge about the Borg, Starfleet would have never agreed to the study had they known they were planning on taking you with them, but you were so young that you weren't enrolled in any school and the Hansen's didn't let anyone know ahead of time." The Captain paused a moment then corrected herself, "At least not anyone who was aware there was the slightest danger, and could have informed them of the risks."

Seven turned around at the Captain's words, facing them once again. The blonde took in a deep breath, "I will consider this further at a later time. The Doctor requested my presence here for a medical scan." The tone of her voice made it clear that she did not wish to continue discussing her parent's or her newly found identity any longer.

The Doctor glanced at the Captain for permission, and upon receiving a sharp nod, he picked up his medical tricorder and beginning his scans beginning with Seven's cortical implant. "The alterations to your cortical node are complete and appear to be stable; you should have complete control over nanoprobes and most of your optical implant functions."

Seven tilted her head slightly, a faraway look in her eyes as she tested the new functionality. "The alterations are performing as expected," she confirmed, "I now have voluntary control of their functionality, and they should no longer respond to any Borg transmission." She turned toward the Pegasian, her brow furrowed with concern and asked, "Are your modifications complete?"

"No not quite," Alexa responded before the Doctor could, "Since I can't regenerate it's taking my nanoprobes a bit longer to complete the changes to my cortical node. But it should only be a few more days."

"What's this?" the Captain broke in, addressing the Doctor sharply, "I thought they could no longer be contacted by the Borg."

Seven responded first, "We cannot unless we come within 3 meters of a Borg vinculum, however without these changes the Collective could send commands to our nanoprobes to cause them to begin multiplying. That could potentially lead to the formation of new implants, and perhaps even a replacement neural interlink." Her metallic brow rose slightly as she finished, "We felt it prudent to minimize that possibility."

Janeway raised her eyebrows slightly, then after a few seconds her lips quirked in a smile, "Good to see you're covering all the bases."

Seven frowned in confusion as she struggled to make sense of Janeway's words.

Before the Captain could explain the phrase's meaning, Alexa said, "Think about the idiom in relation to the recent subject matter that will give you some clues as to how to interpret unfamiliar sayings." Then across their link, '_and if it still doesn't make sense I'll just let her tell you what she meant, or tell you myself."_

The Borg stared at Alexa, aggravated that she wouldn't just inform her of the expression's meaning.

"I won't be around all the time for you, I need to give you the tools to figure things out for yourself," the Pegasian informed her softly.

Seven's gaze eased, "I will comply," she agreed. A few seconds later, she hesitantly offered, "Does the idiom refer to reinforcing the defensive fortifications of a starbase?"

"It could," Captain Janeway responded immediately. Alexa remained silent, recognizing from the Captain's assertive posture and tone that she was taking control of the conversation. "It refers to considering and all aspects of a situation and anticipating all the potential issues, which you two seem to be doing in regards to your particular situation and the Borg."

Seven promptly corrected her, "The Collective. I am still Borg, but I am not part of the Collective, nor do I wish to be part of the Collective." She paused briefly then continued mindful of her and Alexa's conversation two days earlier, "And I no longer believe assimilation will result in the Collective's attainment of perfection."

Janeway looked slightly startled by this pronouncement, but before she could say anything the Doctor, quipped, "I'm sure the crew will be glad to hear that." Immediately following his comment, the hologram finished his medical scan with a small flourish and announced, "All your implants are stable and appear to be in perfect working order."

Seven straightened at his words, "Thank you," she replied crisply, her eagerness to leave obvious. Turning to the Captain she questioned, "Is there anything else you require?"

Alexa was torn between absolute mortification and laughter. It wasn't as if she didn't share Seven's impatience to return to their quarters…but this was the Captain, one simply didn't treat her as an inconvenient obstacle.

Janeway's eyebrows raised high, whether in annoyance or amazement, Alexa couldn't even begin to guess, asked evenly, "You have plans for this evening?"

"Correct," Seven answered promptly, "Alexa and I have plans for this evening."

Janeway stared at the blonde for a moment then the eyebrows lowered, and she smiled. Alexa breathed out a silent sigh of relief. "Chocolate ice cream?" the Captain asked amused.

Alexa's eyes widened at the words, and a tingle of arousal shot through her at the images they raised in her mind. Casually she crossed her arms over her chest, she was moderately certain that her bra, undershirt, and uniform were thick enough to hide her reaction, but better to be safe than sorry.

"Chocolate ice cream," Seven agreed glancing over at the Pegasian, her gaze sharpening with interest as she felt the other woman's reaction to the words through their link. She finished with the merest hint of a smile, "and other human experiences."

Janeway replied indulgently, "Well then enjoy yourselves."

"I will comply," the Borg replied, the smile on her full lips becoming more pronounced.

A strangled sound drew everyone's attention to Alexa, who coughed into her hand, "Sorry," the Pegasian apologized when she finished, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"You will want to be careful exploring new tastes," the Doctor cautioned, "Your stomach isn't used to food, so keep the amounts very small. No more than thirty grams or so every six hours to begin with, and you will want to make sure the food is fairly bland." He smirked, "You might want to avoid Mr. Neelix's culinary creations for awhile."

Seven raised her brow at this piece of advice, "I will do so," she agreed.

Janeway stared at the two women bemused as they left Sickbay. Her instincts were prodding at her, telling her there was something going on that she wasn't seeing, but at the moment she had no idea what that might be.

"Who knew," the Doctor commented to the Captain as the doors closed, distracting her from her thoughts, "that chocolate ice cream was such an incentive for individuality."

'_Darn it Seven_,' Alexa fussed, worried and amused, '_someday she's going to catch on and I don't know how she's going to react. Janeway's a stickler for the rules, she might find it amusing in private, but still reprimand us for inappropriate behavior._'

'_How should I have replied?_' Seven asked as they stepped into the turbolift and the doors closed.

'_Well,_' Alexa paused, the turbolift door opened and they stepped out onto their deck. She was momentarily at a loss, and distracted by thoughts of what would happen when they reached their quarters. '_You could have at least not mentioned the other human experiences,_' she finished weakly as they stopped at the door to their quarters, no longer particularly interested in the conversation.

'_Very well_,' Seven replied, taking a step nearer that almost brought them in contact with one another, '_I will refrain from doing so in the future._' The two women stared at one another intently. The moment had finally arrived, they had no duties to perform, and no one was expecting them anywhere else. It would just be the two of them for the remainder of the night.

Seven was suddenly exquisitely aware of the fact that only a few thin layers of clothing separated her now from the rest of the universe, clothing that would be no lasting barrier to Alexa's touch. She reached around the other woman and rapidly entered the access code into the control panel. As soon as the door opened, she grasped the Pegasian by the shoulders and guided her backward through the doorway. Once inside they took an abrupt turn and in the next moment Alexa's shoulders met the wall as Seven pressed against her and the blonde's lips met hers.

The Borg moaned against the Pegasian's mouth, as she had noticed two days ago, in the few seconds before Ensign Hickman had interrupted them, she could feel so much more with her body armor removed. Right now all she could think of was how Alexa's warm, lean, muscular body felt against her own, and was how much more intense the sensations would be when the clothing that currently separated them was removed.

Alexa pushed lightly against her shoulders, and Seven pulled away long enough for the Pegasian to gasp out, "bed," and through their link images came of how the two single beds could be moved to form a double. There was no difference between a double bed and two singles beside their placement; a double bed was simply two singles placed side by side. The pedestals were secured to the decking underneath them with magnetic clamps, those could be demagnetized and the entire bed moved to wherever was desired.

Seven felt her entire body tense for a moment in anticipation of what would occur once the beds were moved. "Agreed," she finally managed to reply, forcing herself to release Alexa. As highly motivated as both women were, it did not take them long to move both beds together, reposition the mattresses, and replicate wider sheets to cover it.

"Slowly," Alexa instructed Seven huskily, guiding her to sit down on the now double bed. The Pegasian buried her face in the wheat blonde hair, her hands coming up to remove the pins that held it. She ran her hands through the newly released pale locks, "So beautiful," she whispered, "I want to enjoy all of you, touch all of you," she paused, inhaled a deep breath, "taste all of you." Seven shuddered at the words, aroused no less by them than by the images currently flowing through Alexa's mind.

The Pegasian pulled away far enough to look down into the Borg's face. Raptly Alexa began tracing Seven's features with her hands, exploring with her fingertips skin that had been hidden until now by implants. The blonde tilted her face upwards and closed her eyes, focusing on the fingers upon her face. The warm, light touch traced gently around the star shaped implant near her ear, and then around the external portion of her optical implant. The fingers stilled against her jaw, and she drew in a sharp breath when she felt warm lips retracing the same path. The sensitivity of her remaining external facial implants was unexpected. She had expected to feel warmth and pressure, but she could also feel the soft texture of Alexa's lips along with the sensation of air passing over the surface of the implant from the Pegasian's breath.

She opened her eyes as Alexa offered, "Maybe because they were covered before, maybe they just have more sensors than the protective plate that enclosed them, whatever the reason I'm glad this feels good to you."

Before Seven could reply, the olive skinned woman covered the Borg's full lips with her own. Lips parted, and tongues swirled gently against one another, creating a delicious friction. Wrapped within her rising desire, Seven didn't notice Alexa unzipping the back of both the jumpsuit and biosuit until she felt the fastenings of the supportive brace loosening, and then the warmth of the Pegasian's hands for the first time upon the skin of her back. Fingertips stroked slowly along her spine, and Alexa's lips left hers and began exploring the skin of her jaw and neck. The blonde moaned, and leaned her head to the side; offering up her neck unhesitatingly to the Pegasian's wandering lips.

When they were stranded upon the H Class moon, Seven had been aroused by touching Alexa, but it had been nothing like this. That had built almost without her conscious recognition, this however…this was entirely conscious, and as for recognition, she was achingly aware of every caressing touch, each brush of Alexa's lips against her skin, each gentle nip and rake of the Pegasian's teeth.

Alexa pushed down the material of the blonde's clothing, baring the pale, smooth skin of her shoulders. Lips soon followed, skimming along the top of the newly exposed shoulder, then following the elegant line of the Borg's collarbone. The olive skinned woman pulled away, and only then did Seven realize how awkwardly Alexa had been hunched over her. Hazel eyes met blue, and the Borg couldn't help but notice how dilated they were in a clear visual display of Alexa's arousal, and she did not doubt that her own eyes were just as dilated.

Caught by the surge of heated anticipation along their link, Seven focused upon Alexa's thoughts as the Pegasian knelt between the Borg's open knees, her gaze never leaving the blondes. Seven was surprised at her own passivity; unlike either time before, she did not feel like taking control. The only thing she currently wanted was to concentrate on each stroke of Alexa's fingertips, each brush of the Pegasians lips, each graze of the olive skinned woman's teeth upon her newly bared skin, and to fully experience the reactions and emotions they were causing within her.

* * *

Seven wrapped her arms around the Pegasian, pulling her closer and silently urging her to rest more fully upon her. Hesitantly, Alexa complied, gradually resting more and more upon the Borg until she was certain that her full weight was not too much for the blonde to bear. Seven breathed out a quiet sigh of satisfaction, absorbing the sensation of Alexa's body against hers, the weight of it pressing her down into the surface of the bed underneath her. 

"You are so beautiful," Alexa murmured against the blonde's lips, she pulled back further and looked down into Seven's face. "So very beautiful," she whispered.

Seven stared back at her, through their link she could sense the sudden shift in Alexa's emotions, and was uncertain how to respond to both the words and the emotions behind them. The heated arousal that had been present before had been easy to understand, but now the Pegasian's emotions were a confusing mix of arousal, caring and reverence. It was the last emotion that puzzled the Borg the most.

"Thank you for allowing me to be your first," Alexa said earnestly.

The Borg was confused, and the Pegasian's thoughts gave her no further insight. How could this be her first sexual act when there had clearly been two previous times upon the moon's surface?

Alexa smiled at her understandingly, "This is the first time I've been able to touch all of you," her fingers stroked the sensitive bare skin of the blonde's sides, emphasizing the point. "To make love to you," she clarified.

"You are correct," Seven noted. The two women stared at each other, the blonde's blue eyes searching curiously; Alexa's filled with warmth and tenderness. "Please continue," whispered Seven finally in a husky tone.

Alexa's smile widened into a grin, and now there was a touch of mischief in it as the Pegasian's mood lightened, "I will comply," she responded.

* * *

"How are you doing?" Alexa inquired softly against the skin of her cheek.

Seven considered the question, how was she doing? The adjectives pleased, sated, and contented seemed to accurately describe her current state. The press of Alexa's body above her, the gentle brushing of the Pegasian's lips upon her face, and the light caress of Alexa's hands along her sides only added to and intensified these feelings. Recalling their second time upon the moon's surface and Alexa's description of how she felt, Seven replied, "I believe I may be experiencing a moment of perfection," consciously using the same words Alexa had used.

There was a bright flare of pleased emotion from Alexa before the Pegasian replied, "I'm glad."

Seven felt her lips curving into a responding smile. She didn't fight it but instead allowed herself the luxury of simply enjoying the moment, feeling her body slowly calm. That was when she became aware of the fact that Alexa's body above hers held a certain tension. The Borg stretched slowly, smirking at the low moan her movement elicited from the woman lying on top of her. With a smooth, easy move she rolled them both over. "I believe it is time to experience chocolate ice cream," Seven informed Alexa who was now underneath her.


End file.
